ARLINGTON, Texas _ Five years later, there's still no evidence that the Rangers did anything to rile the baseball gods. If indeed they got hexed, it seems undeserved.
But as another promising Rangers postseason begins, after an American League-best 95-win regular season, it's impossible for fans to ignore the playoff misfortunes that have befallen the franchise since that fateful night of October 27, 2011.
Try as they will, fans cannot feign amnesia from what has been seared into their collective baseball psyche. Especially when Texas' division series opponent, Toronto, inflicted the Rangers' most recent postseason misery, winning last year's ALDS with the help of a monumental Texas meltdown.
Perhaps fans can mentally prepare for Thursday's Game 1 at Globe Life Park by doing what Rangers players often do _ follow the unwavering lead of "The Captain," third baseman Adrian Beltre.
Beltre, 37, is one of five Rangers who have endured the franchise's 2-6 playoff free-fall (including 0-3 in home games) dating to Oct. 27, 2011. That was the infamous Game 6 of the World Series, when the Rangers twice came within one strike of winning their first championship.
Prior to that night in St. Louis, the Rangers were 10-5 during that postseason, including 6-2 at home.
"It was a nice series that we played, but it was painful the way we ended," Beltre said. "The way we lost is nothing that I can recommend even to my worst enemy. But we're trying to use that to drive ourselves and have the chance to get there again and end up with a win."
By "we," Beltre mostly is referring to the 2011 holdovers: himself, shortstop Elvis Andrus, first baseman Mitch Moreland and pitchers Colby Lewis and Derek Holland.
As for the rest of the Rangers who have experienced part or all of what has happened since 2011? The agony includes blowing a 13-game division lead in 2012 and losing the Wild Card game, at home, to Baltimore.
It also includes losing a 2013 "play-in" game, again at home, to Tampa Bay. It includes, from the 2011 World Series through 2015, a 1-12 record in games when Texas had a chance to clinch a playoff series or division title. And it includes blowing last October's 2-0 best-of-five series lead to Toronto.
Including the play-in game loss, the Rangers have been outscored 41-24 in post-regular-season games dating to Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, including 29-10 at Globe Life Park.
Fairly or not, the results raise questions about whether the franchise has recovered from 2011, never mind the largely revamped roster and October 2014 hiring of manager Jeff Banister to replace Ron Washington.
"This is a completely new year, especially from that (2011) team," said 28-year-old Andrus, who is coming off his finest regular season as a Ranger. "There's only a few guys who are still here, so I don't think the new guys actually have that cloud, like you guys are saying.
"It's a new year. A new mentality. Every year is different. Any team that's in the postseason can win it all."
