{"id":147701,"date":"2025-09-11T00:03:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T00:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/147701\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T00:03:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T00:03:09","slug":"michael-helmans-elite-play-has-arrived-right-when-the-texas-rangers-needed-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/147701\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Helman\u2019s elite play has arrived right when the Texas Rangers needed it"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON \u2013 Michael Helman<\/a> must have left his cape in his locker Wednesday. All he did in a 6-3 win that capped the best series of a season<\/a> suddenly shocked to life was single and score the tying run. Oh, right. Ran down a speeding bullet on the warning track, too.<\/p>\n

Ho-hum.<\/p>\n

Frankly, we expect more from superheroes.<\/p>\n

Especially one who saves a September.<\/p>\n

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Burger bombs: See photos from the Rangers sweep-sealing win against the Brewers<\/p>\n

\"TexasView Gallery<\/p>\n

Where was the extraterrestrial who drove in all five of the Rangers\u2019 runs against the Brewers on Monday, then homered and subtracted a homer Tuesday, giving them a shot at Wednesday\u2019s sweep?<\/p>\n

Pardon the impertinence, but going into the final game of the series at the Globe, Helman\u2019s .961 OPS was the fourth-highest in baseball for anyone with at least 50 at bats.<\/p>\n

Judge, Kurtz, Ohtani . . . <\/p>\n

Helman.<\/p>\n

Like reading John, Paul, George and Gus.<\/p>\n

For that matter, Helman was upstaged Wednesday by Jake Burger<\/a>, who clobbered two homers to give Merrill Kelly all the cushion he needed. Of course, that\u2019s the sort of thing the Rangers expected when they acquired Burger from the Marlins. The Rangers had no expectations for Helman. No one did.<\/p>\n

Not the Twins nor Cardinals nor Pirates, all of whom employed him at one point or another this year. He wasn\u2019t even with Pittsburgh long enough to make it out of Memphis.<\/p>\n

Get this: The Pirates DFA\u2019d him two days after claiming him to make room for Nick Solak.<\/p>\n

Nick Solak.<\/p>\n

The Rangers, who\u2019d tried to claim him twice, liked Helman because of his versatility. He could play center, second or short. Good wheels. Over a career that took him from Hutchinson Community College to Texas A&M<\/a> to four MLB organizations he\u2019d also shown a little pop.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s also 29, too old to be considered a prospect anymore. Too old, actually, to qualify for the \u201cLittle Rascals\u201d label the Rangers\u2019 broadcast crew hung on the quartet of Helman, Cody Freeman, Alejandro Osuna and Dustin Harris, a group that has pumped life into a moribund clubhouse. Helman has a rascal of his own, 2-year-old Beckham. In fact, he\u2019s older than all but three of the Rangers in Wednesday\u2019s lineup, and Burger\u2019s only got him by a month.<\/p>\n

But funny things happen in September. Particularly when you help the Rangers to a sweep of a team with the best record in baseball for just the sixth time in franchise history and pull them within a hair of not only a wild card berth but maybe even the division lead. Under these circumstances, reality can get a little twisted. Performances become magnified.<\/p>\n

Unlikely heroes are born.<\/p>\n

Bruce Bochy<\/a> knows all about such things. Back in 2010, when his Giants spoiled the Rangers\u2019 World Series debut, he\u2019d been forced to remake the left side of his infield when his third baseman, Pablo Sandoval, \u201cgot a little out of shape,\u201d as Bochy put it, delicately. He moved Jose Uribe over to third and inserted Edgar Renteria at short.<\/p>\n

Renteria had been a five-time All-Star, one of the most respected players in the league. He was also 33 and long past his prime. Bochy believed in him, though. Remembered him Wednesday as \u201ca money player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Renteria cashed in the Rangers, that\u2019s for sure. Homered in Games 2 and 5, put up an OPS of 1.209 and became just the fourth player in World Series history with game-winning hits in two games.<\/p>\n

The other three players?<\/p>\n

Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra.<\/p>\n

Only a couple weeks after joining that group and winning MVP honors, Renteria was without a job when the Giants declined his option.<\/p>\n

The moral is, in baseball, you\u2019ve got to enjoy it while you can, because it\u2019ll come and go before you know it. One minute you\u2019re an emergency call-up; the next, your hitting coach is telling the boys on 105.3 FM that you\u2019ve got \u201cTrae Turner-ish skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trae Turner-ish?<\/p>\n

The three-time All-Star with a career .297\/.349\/.479\/.828 slash line?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d Helman said, smiling, \u201cif you want to go Trae Turner, that\u2019s fine by me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not gonna complain.\u201d<\/p>\n

To say he\u2019s making the most of the greatest stretch of his career would be an understatement. He was so flush with adrenaline the last few days, he said, he couldn\u2019t sleep. Not that he\u2019s carping.<\/p>\n

Nothing\u2019s worth grousing about when you\u2019re this close with 15 games left and your path to the playoffs is no harder than anyone else\u2019s in the division.<\/p>\n

Sweeping the best team in baseball can do wonders for your mood this time of year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s huge for us as a team, just knowing where we\u2019re at,\u201d Helman said. \u201cI think we\u2019re in a good spot. Just keep winning ballgames.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides, it\u2019s not like anyone else is running away with it, right?<\/p>\n

Why not the Rangers?<\/p>\n

\u201cExactly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re living the dream, you might as well make it big. Could be quite a fall in the Helman household. Michael\u2019s wife, Allie, whom he met at A&M, is expecting their second child at the end of October, near what would be the end of the World Series. Much still to be determined between now and then, but, as long as it lasts, you\u2019re crazy not to enjoy it. Meanwhile, if Helman keeps this up, I say we name a condiment after him.<\/p>\n

Twitter\/X: @KSherringtonDMN<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>After long time away, Rangers\u2019 Jacob deGrom set to return to Citi Field at full force<\/a><\/p>\n

The Rangers\u2019 ace, who made his big league debut at Citi Field, pitched nine seasons for the Mets, but hasn\u2019t pitched in Queens since 2022.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a>Rangers playoff tracker: How close is Texas to a spot in the postseason?<\/a><\/p>\n

Despite a litany of injuries, Texas is in the hunt for a playoff spot as the MLB regular season nears its conclusion.<\/p>\n

Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON \u2013 Michael Helman must have left his cape in his locker Wednesday. All he did in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[3200,91385,363,9895,99,2330],"class_list":["post-147701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-commentary","tag-globe-life-field","tag-mlb","tag-rangers","tag-sports","tag-texas-rangers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}