Adrian Beltre and Carlos Beltran are together chasing a World Series title. Their best chance may come together this year.
Yesterday Tyler Kepner of the New York Times wrote about Adrian Beltre and Carlos Beltran’s pursuit of a championship with the Texas Rangers. Both are in their 19th major league season, and Kepner notes that only Batrolo Colon, has “played as many seasons as Beltre and Beltran without winning a World Series.” It looks as if 2016 will provide the aging superstars with at least one more opportunity. As of this afternoon, the Rangers have an 8.5 game lead in the AL West.
Beltre got his first taste of post-season baseball in 2004. It was his final season with the Dodgers, and they fell to the Cardinals in the divisional series three games to one. The following five seasons Beltre played for the Mariners, and they never reached the post-season during that stretch.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
It has been Beltre’s time in Texas that has given him the best shot at a title. In his first season as a Ranger (2011), the team got within one strike of clinching a championship (twice as Kepner notes). However, the Cardinals rallied to win the World Series in seven. The following season (2012), the Rangers lost in the wildcard game, and they lost to the Blue Jays in the Divisional Series last year.
Carlos Beltran has also participated in his fair share of October baseball. The first opportunity came in 2004 when the Kansas City Royals sent him to the Houston Astros. Beltran was a major reason the Astros were able to advance to the NLCS, but they fell to the Cardinals in seven games. In twelve post-season games that year Beltran hit .435/.536/.1.022 with 8 HR and 14 RBI.
The following season he made his was to New York as a member of the Mets. In 2006 he was able to advance to the NLCS yet again. For the second time in his career he was stopped just short of a World Series appearance thanks to the Cardinals knocking off the Mets in seven.
In 2012 he decided to join the team that had been his biggest source of pain in October. The St. Louis Cardinals were coming off of a world title in 2011, and this looked like one of Beltran’s best chances at finishing the season on top. For the third time in his career his team advanced to the NLCS, and for the third time in his career his team lost in seven (4-3 Giants). Beltran finally broke through with the Cardinals and made his first World Series appearance in 2013, but St. Louis was stopped by Boston in six games.
Last season Beltran returned to the playoffs yet again, this time as a member of the New York Yankees. However, New York was shut down by AL Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel in the Wild Card Game.
Next: Puig Hits Fan With Souvenir
Once again Beltre and Beltran will look to exercise the demons of post-seasons past. However, this time they’ll try and do it together. Can the Rangers help bring a title to these two superstars who have been so close in previous years? We’ll have our answer just over a month from now.