Mark Wesley Pritchard
Bio
You can call me Wesley. Former cosplayer, retro gaming fanatic, die-hard Texas Rangers fan, and nostalgic freak. Need I say more?
Threads: @misterwesleysworld
Instagram: @misterwesleysworld
Stories (399)
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The One Texas Rangers Game You Probably Forgot About
Before the Boston Red Sox won their second World Series title in four years, the Texas Rangers gave baseball fans and the entire sports world something to talk about in 2007. The evening of August 22 of that year was a date that Rangers fans remember very well. I graduated from high school nearly two months before the following game that I'm about to discuss. On that aforementioned date, the Rangers played the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards, which was part of a four-game series. Just to note that it was a game that was rescheduled from Monday, due to inclement weather and part of a doubleheader. The starting pitchers for that rescheduled game were Kason Gabbard (Texas) vs Daniel Cabrera (Baltimore). I'll give you some grace if you don't recall watching this game, but it was one of the best Rangers games I've ever watched on TV. Sure, the Rangers weren't having a good season, but this game in particular will forever be etched in the minds of die-hard Rangers fans. To avoid boring everyone and detailing every play-by-play in this story, I'll just detail bits and pieces of this historic game.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 2 months ago in Unbalanced
Dear Men: It's Okay to Cry. Content Warning.
Several months ago, I wrote a story about MLB All-Star Jarren Duran and his struggles with his mental health. There was a docuseries in 2024 where he discussed his suicide attempts in 2022. Besides the homophobic slur he uttered towards a fan that occurred in August 2024, which I still hold him accountable for, I was empathetic towards his plight and also commended him for being open and honest about his personal battles. Many people believe that athletes have perfect lives, but in reality, there's no such thing as a perfect life. In fact, it doesn't exist. At the end of the day, they're regular people just like us and go through hardships. You never know what goes on behind the scenes in their lives.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 2 months ago in Psyche
A Token of Appreciation: Cal Raleigh
The other day, the MLB End of the Year award winners were announced. Everyone was certain that Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh was going to win American League MVP. However, for the third consecutive year, Aaron Judge took the honors. Yours truly recently gave his takes on how Major League Baseball was biased towards certain players. Fellow Vocal writer Adrian Holman shared his thoughts about this topic, and we both shared the same sentiments. So, let's compare the stats of both Raleigh and Judge:
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 2 months ago in Unbalanced
The Biggest Joke in MLB History
Free agency is now underway, and the Winter Meetings are fast approaching. However, those aren't what the following story is about. Question: What do Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Tarik Skubal, and Paul Skenes all have in common? These men have won the NL MVP, AL MVP, AL Cy Young Award, and NL Cy Young Awards respectively consecutively, with Judge winning for the third year in a row. I thought at first that this was all satire, except for Kurtz, but alas, I was wrong. Nick Kurtz of the Athletics won AL Rookie of the Year, which the writers were correct on that one.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 3 months ago in Unbalanced
Level 38
The title of this story is a Pokémon reference, in case you didn't get it. I prefer using the term Leveled Up when it comes to me being a year older. I've noticed when elderly people reach certain ages, someone would say to the effect that this person is 100 years young as opposed to 100 years old, which I respect. It's understandable that most people don't like using the word old. I don't get older. I level up. If you've seen pictures of me on social media, especially here on Vocal, I don't look like my age. Most people mistake me for either a high school or college student, due to my youthful appearance. I'm fine with that, because looking younger works to my advantage. If you were to meet me in person, you wouldn't know that I'm nearing 40.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 3 months ago in Humans
Good Riddance and Goodbye!
February 2025 wasn't a great month for the Dallas Mavericks. Why? They were at the center of a controversial decision that would eventually haunt the team for a long time: trading fan-favorite Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Once the news made headlines, Mavericks fans were furious and belted their frustrations online and also held protests. Just to remind everyone that the Mavericks were in the NBA Finals a year prior to this disastrous firestorm that would eventually unfold. Doncic averaged 37 points a game before the trade occurred. The growing backlash was too much for the Mavericks front office to handle and they decided to fire General Manager Nico Harrison. In an open letter to fans, Patrick Dumont acknowledged how the team is committed to become a winning team. While he didn't go into specific detail about now ex-General Manager Nico Harrison, he's heard the genuine concerns of fans and is confident about the future of the Mavericks.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 3 months ago in Unbalanced
Best MLB Managers of the Last 25 Years
A Major League Baseball team is never complete without a manager. I've gone over the best World Series games, best quarter century team, and players over the last 25 years in previous stories. I'll have links below to those stories down below in case you missed reading them. In this story, I'll highlight some of my favorite managers since the year 2000. I'll only highlight managers between the years 2000-2024.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 3 months ago in Unbalanced
Why Did I Always Feel Like This?. Content Warning.
Trigger warning: the following story will discuss weight and other weight-related topics Growing up in Texas, my childhood, while parts of it were great, the household was both toxic and abusive. My parents, whom I've been estranged from for nearly 15 years, were verbally and physically abusive towards me. They would ridicule and belittle me about everything: they way that I looked, talked, and anything that they saw about me as weird. I'm the oldest of three children (younger brother and sister) and I always was the target of my parents' wrath. I was a skinny kid, and they would make horrible comments about my body, saying things like I needed to eat. For context, I was in high school and weighed almost 110 pounds. Sure, it's not a healthy weight for a teenage boy. However, at the same time, it's not nice to body shame your own child. No matter what I ate, I was still slim. The constant critique of my body from my parents stuck with me and my self-esteem drastically decreased, especially when I entered adulthood.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 3 months ago in Longevity
Final Thoughts About the 2025 MLB Postseason
The 2025 MLB Postseason should've been called the Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani Lovefest, because those were the center of attention, selfishly overshadowing other teams who deserved to be highlighted more. There were some teams who truly deserved to be in the playoffs and others who I felt weren't October Ready. The Postseason isn't supposed to be about one specific player or team. Everyone deserves to be acknowledged and recognized for their performances. I blamed and accused MLB and these major networks for being heavily biased towards a single team and player.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 3 months ago in Unbalanced
Wesley's Favorite Forgotten Texas Rangers Players
2026 will mark 25 years as a Texas Rangers fan for me. Since 2001, I've enjoyed watching many Rangers players by attending my first game in person and on watching them on TV. For the following list, I'll be highlighting a few of my favorite players who you might know by name, either in passing or vaguely, but never heard of them in years. The following are not in any particular order. So, players like Hank Blalock and Yu Darvish will not be on this list, since we're already familiar with them. If you don't see a forgotten Rangers player that you loved on this list or if you have more than one player, please comment down below. Now, on to the list.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 3 months ago in Unbalanced
Thoughts About the Release of the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot
Last year, I shared my thoughts about the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. There was a plethora of players that I recognized, and Ichiro was one of them. He eventually got inducted into Cooperstown, making him the first Asian-born player to do so. Major League Baseball recently revealed the candidates for the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame. Shown above are eight players on the ballot, but two of those players aren't deserving of being on it: Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. It makes me give MLB and the Baseball Hall of Fame committee the huge side-eye. Why these two cheaters, because that's what they were, are on the ballot baffles me. I don't care how good they were as players. We shouldn't praise those who used performance enhancing drugs to gain an advantage and the "Everyone else was doing it, too" excuse doesn't hold up and it's a weak argument. Just because someone took PEDs, doesn't mean that it was right and it's acceptable now. That's why rules regarding the use of performance enhancing drugs exist today. I've said the same thing last year when Alex Rodríguez appeared on the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, but unfortunately, he wasn't selected to be inducted this past July. Baseball fans like me still care about the integrity of the game. There are plenty of players and even managers who were well-respected but still aren't in the Hall. One example being Atlanta Braves great Andruw Jones. I've seen his name pop up a lot in the comment sections of many baseball videos and videos about the Braves. I believe that he should've appeared on this ballot over Bonds and Clemens. Six months ago, Commissioner Rob Manfred lifted the lifetime bans of Pete Rose and 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson, among other players. Both men will be eligible for the Classic Baseball Era Committee as early as December 2027. However, it's not a guarantee that they'll be inducted into Cooperstown. The reaction to this news was mixed.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 3 months ago in Unbalanced
Oh What a Night! The First of November 2023
Baseball in November is a rare occurrence, especially a team taking a single game to win a World Series title. However, it adds more excitement to the game. Question: Where were you on the evening of November 1, 2023? If you were either a Texas Rangers or Arizona Diamondbacks fan, most likely, your attention was on Game 5 of the World Series. This past Saturday was the two-year anniversary of the Texas Rangers capturing their first World Series title in franchise history. To celebrate it, I watched the aforementioned game again. Two years ago, I didn't have access to any sports apps where I could watch the games on TV, resulting in me being unable to watch any Postseason games and the first three games of the World Series. Luckily, I was able to watch games four and five. When baseball fans think of the World Series, the teams that come in mind are the Red Sox, Yankees, and Dodgers. No one expected the Rangers and Diamondbacks, two small market teams, to reach the Fall Classic.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard 3 months ago in Unbalanced
