FanGraphs, We Need to Talk

As you can tell by this picture above, I'm seething with anger. Why is that, you ask? It's because the disrespect of the Texas Rangers never seems to end. The focus of this story is about FanGraphs. If you're not familiar with them, it was created and owned by David Appelman in 2009. Their main focus is providing stats for every player in Major League Baseball. Plus, they have blog posts, provide information about prospects, and more. I've been following their shenanigans ever since the Rangers won the World Series and nearly six months later, the defending champs are still not being shown the respect that they rightfully deserve. This is a team who has swept the Rays and Orioles in the Wild Card and ALDS respectively. Also, they fought hard to beat their rivals, the Houston Astros, in seven games in the ALCS. Finally, they defeated the Diamondbacks in five games to win it all. This was their first ever World Series title in team history, after being so close of winning it over 12 years ago. I've been a fan for over 20 years and it was the best night of my life.

In the case of FanGraphs and them being biased against the Rangers, I've brought receipts. As a fan of the Rangers, I never forget anything. I don't just pull stuff out just to run my mouth. I bring actual proof, like screenshots. Let's look at the first screenshot below.

Over two weeks after the World Series concluded, I was brought to my attention this article from FanGraphs. Where they ranked the Rangers at fueled an amount of backlash and rightfully so. The Rangers put their blood, sweat, and tears during the Postseason and this is how you treat them? Make it make sense. Moving on to the next screenshot.

At the beginning of this year, my wonderful pals @rangers.nation on Instagram shared this graph from FanGraphs. A nine percent chance to win the American League West, 34 percent chance to make the playoffs, and a one percent chance to win the World Series. Plus, you can see my reaction to their graph on my Instagram stories. But wait, it gets worse. Here's the last screenshot and it really infuriated me. It doesn't get any better.

As of March 11, this is the updated graph. My question to FanGraphs is why are you going so hard for a team that I have a huge dislike of and cheated the Dodgers out of a World Series title in 2017? I've shared my disdain of the Astros on Vocal and on social media. Yes, I might get a few dissenters for my opinions about them, but I've always maintained that the Astros should have their 2017 title stripped and rings returned. They didn't deserve it. They're cheaters and will be known as such forever. They'll always have that label attached to them, no matter how many managers they go through or division titles they win. It doesn't change the fact that the Astros will be the most hated team in baseball and in my opinion, sets a bad example for children and future prospects. They should've been given the 1919 White Sox treatment, not full immunity.

Do I believe that the people at FanGraphs have a right to their own opinions? Yes and they can rank teams however and wherever they want. However, the one thing I'm not going to allow is a site to overlook the defending World Series champions. To conclude this story, here's some of the records the Rangers broke during their World Series run:

• Finished 11-0 on the road, which was the most road wins by a single team in any postseason and the longest road winning streak in postseason history
• Corey Seager became the second player to win World Series MVP with two different teams in two different leagues (2020 Dodgers and 2023 Rangers)
• Bruce Bochy became the sixth manager to win four or more World Series titles. The other three were with the San Francisco Giants (2010, 2012, 2014)

My message to FanGraphs: My beloved Rangers and us, the fans, are a lot more dedicated that you'll ever imagine.

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