Texas Rangers’ Ezequiel Duran (20) high-fives Brandon Nimmo, right, after their team defeated the Miami Marlins in a baseball game, Monday, June 22, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Lynne Sladky/AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
MIAMI — How long can Scotland hang around the World Cup with its legion of kilt-wearing, chant-blaring fans occasionally dropping in on the Rangers and offering them inspiration?
On Monday the Tartan Army marched on loanDepot Park and though they cheered the Marlins, they inspired the Rangers in a 4-3 win with a raucous atmosphere at a park usually considered a quiet zone. If you were wondering, the Rangers are now 2-0 with Scotland fans on hand.
And after the Rangers retreated from a win, video of which should be shipped off to All-Star Game voters to help the cases of Ezequiel Duran and Jacob Latz, a strange anthem bounced off the walls of the visitors clubhouse.
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“No Scotland, No Party.”
With the bass line thumping.
“As long as they keep coming to games and we win, it would be great,” manager Skip Schumaker said as the walls of his office shook afterwards. “I mean that atmosphere is just so incredible when they come to games. It’s a blast. I love having them here.”
Alas, this was probably the last rendezvous for the Rangers and Scotland. Even if the Scots advance to the knockout round and beyond, it just doesn’t look like the dates will line up for a third drop-in. Their anthem and their spirit, however, might just be someplace where the faceless Rangers could start to find an identity.
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The theme of the anthem, according to its writer, former Scottish postman Nick Morgan, is belief.
“The theme is essentially: We know we are not this great team, we know we are not Argentina, we are not world champions, but we have these great players and we have this belief,” Morgan told BBC Scotland after the song went viral two years ago.
A Scotland soccer fan dances with a traffic cone as part of the Tartan Army march outside of loanDepot park before a baseball game between the Miami Marlins and the Texas Rangers, Monday, June 22, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Lynne Sladky/AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
Belief would be a good place to start.
Belief that Kumar Rocker might just be a unicorn who actually benefits from the opener arrangement. He pitched five innings after a scoreless first by Tyler Alexander, racked up a career-high nine strikeouts, has a 1.42 ERA in those two outings and a 5-to-1 strikeout to walk rate. Neither Rocker nor the Rangers have any idea why he’s responded so well to the arrangement, but they believe it’s worth further exploring.
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“The numbers are real,” Schumaker said. “Both times he’s come out against heavily left-handed lineups that usually give him trouble and he’s had success. It’s a conversation. We’ve got to talk about it.”
Belief that Duran is a deserving All-Star. Duran’s two-run homer in the fifth gave the Rangers the lead and his relay throw home in the sixth prevented a run and ended the inning. It comes on the heels of a fantastic play when he went deep into the hole at short on Sunday and made an unbelievable throw for an out. Silly as it might seem, it’s at least worth asking: Is Duran the Rangers’ best defensive option at short when Corey Seager comes back?
“I think what’s getting lost a little bit [in his season] is the defensive part of him has been excellent,” Schumaker said. “He’s making play after play, not easy plays either, so he’s been extremely valuable.”
So, is he the best defensive option at short?
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“Hopefully, he’s playing second base here in a couple of days,” the manager said.
Said Duran: “I’m just playing hard and with all my heart. I worked on it all offseason. And I feel really good. It’s a hard position to play, and now I’m happy I’m playing really good defense and I’m trying to be the best I can be.”
Belief in oneself is important, too.
And then there is the belief that Latz might just be the most valuable reliever in the game, which seems to get reaffirmed almost nightly as he pitches more than one inning to close out games. On Monday, he picked up his eighth save of more than one inning by getting the final four outs. He had a 1.4 WAR, according to FanGraphs, entering the game, making him the third most valuable reliever in the American League. He’s now fourth in the league in saves, with one more than Seattle’s Andres Muñoz. Now that’s a sentence that nobody expected to write at the start of the season.
“We can’t keep doing this to him,” Schumaker said after doing it for the fourth time in his last five outings. “I can’t imagine a better guy right now, more deserving in the league than Jacob Latz to be an All-Star.”
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In other words, he believes in him.
Now, if the Rangers can just take their dalliance with the Scots to believe in themselves, they might just be in position to take the energy they’ve absorbed from the kilted kits and turn it into a nice little run.