The Sunday Read: Observations on the Rangers after some R&R on the Tennessee River

(AP photo/Nick Cammett)

The goal at the start of last weekend was to work as little as possible while on vacation. The goal should have been to do no work, but that’s just not possible these days.

It’s baseball season after all, and this is a baseball website. Subscribers didn’t get their usual dose of daily newsletters, but the mind couldn’t shut itself off.

However, baseball wasn’t much of a thought Wednesday morning while pulling in a 17-pound blue catfish and an 8.1-pound largemouth bass on Chickamauga Lake, just off the Tennessee River channel, just north of Chattanooga. The family cruised down to Atlanta that night for a Braves game at Truist Park, where Ronald Acuna Sr. grabbed a foul ball and handed it to my son. He handed it to his sister.

Not a bad day.

The Rangers finished up their soggy series that night at Cleveland with a rain-delayed shutout loss in which the Guardians managed to cool off Marcus Semien.

Wait? Cool off Marcus Semien?

He had quite the doubleheader Tuesday, going 7 for 8 with three home runs. His average shot above the Mendoza Line and he’s still above it entering the series finale today at Chicago. It would rate as a shock if it doesn’t keep heading north, as everyone knew it would.

Or should have known.

What else crossed my mind over the past week? Let’s take a look.