Rangers ‘Little Rascals’ fight to the finish

By David Mullen

September is a busy month for local sports fans. College and pro football is in full view with hockey and basketball coming into focus. The world’s best golfers are meeting in Long Island to begin the biannual Ryder Cup. And the baseball pennant races will be decided in the final 10 games.

After a No. 1 spot atop the AP college football poll and being pegged as the team to beat in the NCAA, the Texas Longhorns lost their first game at Ohio State and have not dominated lesser teams in nonconference play. The SMU Mustangs have not captured the magic of 2024. Sandwiched in between an excruciating overtime home loss to Baylor are two lackluster wins against inferior football programs. But the ACC season lies ahead. 

The Dallas Cowboys were one second and 64-yards away from beginning the season 0-2. But Brandon Aubrey’s stunning field goal with no time left on the clock in regulation, coupled with a 46-yard kick as overtime ended, gave the 1-1 Cowboys a seesaw 40-37 win over the 0-2 New York Giants. With three of the next four games — versus Chicago, NY Jets and Carolina — winnable, Cowboy fans will talk playoffs. But this Cowboys team is erratic, with the only constant being Aubrey’s leg.  

The Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars are preparing for their 2025-26 seasons. Unbelievably, the Stars open the NHL preseason against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, Sept 20 at the AAC, where outside temperatures will be in the low 90s. Off the court, the Mavericks are indoctrinating a team of new assistant coaches into head coach Jason Kidd’s system. More importantly, the Mavs must win fans back after the disastrous fallout from the Luka Doncic trade. The Mavs tip off their preseason on Monday, Oct. 6.    

Dallas’s Scottie Scheffler is the world’s best golfer. But can his Team U.S. playing partners prove they are the best team in the world? Team Europe, featuring Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood and other stars, is loaded. The course at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y., home to the 45th Ryder Cup beginning on Friday, Sept. 26., is one of the most European-style American courses that golfers will play all year. The advantage swings to Team Europe.   

Then there is MLB. Most division titles have been decided, with the Philadelphia Phillies, Detroit Tigers and the surprising Milwaukee Brewers earning playoff berths. Other current division leaders — the LA Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays — will be in the postseason barring a monumental collapse. But the AL West, home of the Texas Rangers, remains unsettled.  

The Houston Astros are always at the top of the AL West and, led by record setting switch-hitting catcher Cal Raleigh, the Seattle Mariners made the division a two-team race. Injuries to star Rangers players Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Adolis García and Nathan Eovaldi, who make up a large percentage of the Rangers payroll, occurred all at once and at the worst time. The Rangers “wait until next year” refrain rang out in early August.

But then, the “Little Rascals” came to Arlington. Before one assumes that the Little Rascals are a Tarrant County Pee Wee League football team, they are a group of journeymen minor leaguers that have kept the Rangers in the playoff hunt. The players are not nicknamed Little Rascals because they resemble Spanky, Buckwheat or Alfalfa. 

Credited to Team President Chris Young and embraced by some media, the “Little Rascals” are a group of relatively unknown, mostly young players who came up from the farm clubs on a mission. They were not about to call the season over with approximately 50 games left to play.

The Little Rascals are Cody Freeman, Michael Helman, Alejandro Osuna, (recently injured) Sam Haggerty and Dustin Harris. They brought the Big Club an energy and win-at-all-cost attitude. They love to play baseball and are determined to win. That passion is often missing from high-priced players when the postseason seems unattainable. They seem content with spending October in Cancun. Not the Little Rascals. 

Their brashness was infectious and inspired slumping players Joc Pederson and Jake Burger to break out of their early season funk. 

Their enthusiastic play contributed to a winning 15 of 19 games and pushed the Rangers back into a playoff contender or at least a major spoiler. 

Losses to Houston on September 15 and 16 will probably keep the Rangers out of the playoffs. But the play of the Little Rascals reminded fans that baseball is a team sport and the season is a marathon, not a sprint. 

The September-early October sports schedule can be daunting. But a group of Little Rascals, unsure if a major league career was even possible, kept the Rangers 2025 season relevant. Most fans did not have the Rangers late season surge on their sports calendar. Through the clutter of other sporting events, it is unclear if local sports fans even noticed.