The Texas Rangers came incredibly close to bringing home a World Series title, but were undone in a thrilling Game 6. The pain of Thursday's loss continues to resonate in the Texas fanbase, as many wonder what might have been following the Rangers 6-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 7 on Friday night.
Over at SB Nation Dallas, there was a mix of emotions following Game 7, with happiness about the big picture inter-mixed with sadness over coming so close.
The silver linings, of course, are the state of the franchise. Once we get closer to the start of next season, we can all enjoy the future still looking great, and having had success many teams would actually kill for in recent years. But boy, this hurts, and finding someone to understand the pain will be difficult.
Congratulations to the Cardinals on their 11th world championship. They did not just win the World Series because the Rangers ended it with awful play, or because of good luck, or because of bad umpiring. They won because they did not give up on their season, and they played great baseball against three very good teams for a month.
Texas still looks to be in good shape going forward, though it won't take the way the sting of falling short in the World Series when it seemed the Rangers had the Cardinals on the ropes. But it was a great run again, though this time around the World Series loss has to be harder to swallow.
For more on the Cardinals' Game 7 win, check out the Baseball Nation live-blog and Rob Neyer's recap.