Baseball seasons don’t move in straight lines. They bend, stall, collapse, and revive in ways that numbers can’t always explain. The Rangers learned that in 2023, and the Cubs are living it now.
The Rangers looked like a runaway freight train in the first half that year, holding the top spot in the AL for a majority of the season. Corey Seager was hitting consistently, and Marcus Semien set the tone at the top of the order. By mid-August, they were 72–48 and seemingly cruising to a division title. Then the bottom fell out as an eight-game losing streak kicked off a 4–16 spiral.