HOUSTON—Twelve years after one of the most devastating losses in baseball history, the heartbreak of the 2011 World Series still looms over the Texas Rangers. On two separate occasions in Game 6—in the ninth inning and then again in the 10th—the Rangers needed just one more strike to claim a championship over the St. Louis Cardinals. Both times, they blew the lead, punctuated by David Freese’s legendary walk-off home run that destroyed a generation of Rangers fans. “For a couple of years after that I would probably have a moment every day where I would think about it,” said Michael Young, the Rangers’ all-time hits leader and a key member of that 2011 squad. “If that ball goes off the end of his bat instead of smack dab on the barrel, this whole thing is different.”

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Persons: David Freese’s, ”, Michael Young Organizations: HOUSTON, Texas Rangers, Rangers, Louis Cardinals