While the Dallas Stars lit up the NHL playoffs with a comeback worthy of a Netflix special, the Texas Rangers spent the week reminding us that baseball is a long, humbling ride—especially when your bats go cold and your bullpen goes missing. One team is chasing the Cup. The other? Trying to remember where they left their offense. Welcome to the North Texas sports rollercoaster.
Texas Rangers: Rough Week at the Office
The week started with a quiet 2-1 loss to the A’s on Monday. Then came Tuesday’s 15-2 explosion, a hit parade that had fans believing home cooking was the cure. Spoiler: it wasn’t. Texas scored just one run total over the next two games, losing 7-1 and 3-0 as the bats iced over again.
The weekend series against Seattle wasn’t much better. Friday’s 13-1 blowout was a flop from start to finish, and Saturday’s 2-1 loss came after the bullpen melted down in the ninth. Sunday finally brought relief—deGrom dominated, the bats showed up, and the Rangers ended the week with an 8-1 win.
But let’s not panic—yet. The Rangers didn’t fall apart last week, but they definitely faceplanted a few times. After a solid April, expectations were getting a little too big for their britches. And as Ron Washington once said, “That’s the way baseball go.” Between cold bats and a bullpen that couldn’t hold water, this team looked like it needed a spark.
They got one—sort of. The Rangers brought in Brett Boone as hitting coach and called up Evan Carter from Triple-A to revive an offense that’s been allergic to runners in scoring position. We will see this week against Boston and Detroit if the changes work out as they hope.
Dallas Stars: Rantanen, Revenge, and Round Two
While the Rangers were getting smacked around, the Dallas Stars were busy delivering pure playoff chaos. Their first-round series against the Colorado Avalanche wasn’t just hockey—it was cinematic. And Mikko Rantanen? He wrote the script, starred in it, and burned his old team in the process.
Game 5 in Dallas was a gritty 6-2 win, sealed by Wyatt Johnston 2 goals and 26 clutch saves from Jake Oettinger. Game 6? A forgettable 7-4 beatdown in Denver—unless you’re Valeri Nichushkin, who went full cheat code. Still, Rantanen quietly put up four points and wasn’t done yet.
Then came Game 7. Down 2-0 in the third, the Stars flipped the switch. Rantanen dropped a hat trick and an assist in 20 wild minutes—including a power-play equalizer and an empty-net dagger. Stars win 4-2. Avs extend their streak to seven straight Game 7 losses. Jake stood tall, DeBoer’s extended his unreal game 7 streak to 9-0, and Rantanen wrote a revenge story for the ages.
The TX-03 Takeaway
In TX-03, sports heartbreak doesn’t last long—there’s always another game, another series, another chance to catch fire. The Rangers may have stumbled last week, but the season’s still young and the lineup’s too good to stay quiet forever. Help has arrived. Let’s see what they do with it.
Meanwhile, the Stars are rolling into round two with swagger, momentum, and a head coach who doesn’t lose Game 7s. Mikko Rantanen just torched his old team, and now Dallas heads north to face Winnipeg in what’s shaping up to be a heavyweight series.
So whether you’re watching the bullpen or the blue line, one thing’s clear—this is no time to look away. North Texas sports are just getting started.