Sports teams find different ways to fire themselves up before games, and baseball teams are no different. A prime example might be the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who were rumored to share a pre-game shot of Jack Daniels during their run to the World Series. As it turns out, what the team was actually drinking was Mama Juana, a rum concoction from the Dominican Republic, but it certainly helped, as Boston won their first World Series since 1917.
Texas Rangers’ obsession with Creed in MLB Playoffs, explained
Why are 40,000 Texas Rangers fans singing Creed?
Photo by Keith Griner/Getty Images
Mark Schofield is a former college quarterback and attorney covering the NFL and F1.
If the Texas Rangers are to win their first title in club history, a pre-game ritual of their own will go down in baseball lore.
Creed — the ‘90s band you probably forgot existed.
That’s right, the Rangers have been cranking the Creed before games, a ritual that began at some point in the second half of the season. As the team was going through a bit of a slump the Creed hit — can we call it that? — “Higher” found itself to the locker room.
And it helped right the ship down the stretch.
Pitcher Andrew Heaney talked about the song earlier this week, noting that the Rangers started “having fun and playing Creed before games” during their second-half swoon, which saw the Astros overtake them in the American League West standings.
“It’s kind of just a random thing that everybody started singing to one day, and it’s kind of built on itself,” Corey Seager said before Tuesday’s Game 3 against the Baltimore Orioles.
Tuesday night was also the Rangers’ first home playoff game this season, which provided the perfect opportunity for the fans to get in on the ritual. Heaney opined that it would be tremendous to hear “Higher” played at Globe Life Field during the game, and after a three-run blast from Adolis García staked the Rangers to a 6-0 lead, the hurler got his wish.
And it seems, so did the 40,000-plus in attendance:
Along the way another group has taken to the ritual.
Creed themselves.
The Rangers now await the winner of the Minnesota-Houston series, and as the fifth seed in the American League Texas is guaranteed to be back on the road for the first two games of the American League Championship Series.
But could we see Creed in the house for Game 3?
The odds are growing higher.
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