The question of how Nathaniel Lowe has seen the Rangers change is almost too big for him to answer.
This is his third season in Texas since being traded from Tampa Bay. That’s enough to make the first baseman one of the longest-tenured members of this roster. The team has turned over almost entirely since his first season, in 2021. That first Rangers team Lowe played with lost 102 games. This one is in the World Series. They have a new executive (Chris Young) who convinced an old manager (Bruce Bochy) to come out of retirement for one last shot at steering a team to a championship. And they’ve helped usher in a new crop of players, a mix of big free agents, splashy trade acquisitions and recently promoted rookies. Lowe has just five teammates who can remember all the losing of ’21. (And that count is generous, as it includes reliever José Leclerc, who missed the entire season rehabbing from surgery.) Yet the biggest change, Lowe says, was not on the field or from the front office or in the standings.
It was in the clubhouse. For a 7 p.m. game in the regular season, he says, players would often show up before noon. For some, that was part of their routine, but for others, it was to play cards or challenge one another at Golden Tee. It was simple: They wanted to come to work and hang out with one another each day. And the resulting difference was more palpable to Lowe than the turnover on the roster or the change in their record.
