As Rangers Enter Spring Training, No One More Important Than Yu Darvish

Photo credit: SI.com

It's a beautiful time of the year, when hope springs eternal for just about every squad in Major League Baseball. Four of the most adrenaline-pumping words in sports - "pitchers and catchers report" - appear on the calendar, just in time to look ahead to warmer weather, green grass, melting snow (at least here in Kansas City) and a brand new season of America's pastime.

It's common for baseball fans to look into their crystal ball and formulate optimistic hypotheses around this time of year.

To illustrate:

A's: If Sonny Gray becomes an ace, and the offense continues to get on base and produce runs, our elite bullpen will take care of the rest and lead us to a third straight AL West crown. (editor's note: barf)

Angels: If Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton fully recover, they'll join the best all-around player in the game (Mike Trout) and climb the standings to finish a whole lot better than 78-84. (editor's note: double barf)

Mariners: If newly signed Robinson Cano can elevate this offense out of the depths of irrelevance, the starting pitching can carry the team to late-season contention. (editor's note: yeah, whatever)

Astros: If ... yeah, it doesn't really matter what Houston does this season. They ain't contending.

I began to ponder my Rangers hypothesis, given the offseason acquisitions of Prince Fielder and Shin-Soo Choo. This is going to be one hell of a lineup, with everything you want. On-base percentage. Average. Power. Speed. It should be vastly improved over last year's often inept unit.

The bullpen, led by Neftali Feliz, Tanner Scheppers, Neal Cotts and Joakim Soria, should be stout.

That leaves the starting rotation, a.k.a. the biggest question mark heading into camp. Derek Holland's knee injury left a gaping hole in the No. 2 spot, and frankly, I don't know that we have anyone to fill those shoes. It's a bunch of maybes. Maybe Matt Harrison. Maybe Alexi Ogando. Maybe Martin Perez.

It left me thinking how important Yu Darvish is this season. As in, like, so important that if he got hurt, I would search for a dark room and promptly lock myself in there for hours on end. But I'm a happy-go-lucky kinda dude. So I prefer to think Darvish will be healthy this year. With Holland out, he's gotta be dynamite for Texas to make noise in the American League.

My optimistic Rangers hypothesis: If Yu Darvish stays healthy and continues to mature as a pitcher, the Rangers will win the AL West.

Darvish, fresh off a 2013 campaign that saw him go 13-9 with a 2.83 ERA, 277 strikeouts and 80 walks, is maturing into one of the best pitchers in MLB. I'd love to see Yu place a premium on efficiency - don't care so much about strikeouts (they will be there, promise) and lower pitch counts. He'd be in the conversation for second-best pitcher in the game to Clayton Kershaw.

It'll be super exciting to watch Rangers hitters mash this year. You gotta be able to hit in the AL. But it won't matter if we can't stop anyone from doing the same. Maybe Matt Harrison recovers nicely from two back surgeries. Maybe Martin Perez takes a step forward to a middle-of-the-rotation kinda guy. Maybe Colby Lewis wows us with another comeback tour. As for Yu? Forget the maybes. He must be that guy every fifth day that we can rely on to be confident fans walking around with some swag. Remember what that felt like in 2010 with Cliff Lee? That's what we need from Yu.

He does that? Book it: We win the West. Can't wait until Opening Day. Bring on baseball season.