On March 11, 2015 — The Texas Rangers didn’t need any more bad news in March 2015. They’d already lived through one of the most injury-ravaged seasons in baseball history, placing a near-record 17 players on the disabled list in 2014. Prince Fielder, Shin-Soo Choo, Derek Holland, Matt Harrison — the list read like a hospital ward. All they needed was for their ace to be healthy and everything else could be figured out.
They didn’t get that either.
An MRI revealed damage to Darvish’s ulnar collateral ligament, and multiple doctors recommended Tommy John surgery. Wikipedia Just like that, before a single regular season pitch was thrown, Texas lost the one player they could least afford to lose.
The cruelest part was how it unfolded. Darvish had exited a spring training game with arm tightness, but initially it wasn’t believed to be serious. Wikipedia Rangers fans had seen enough 2014 to know that “not serious” rarely stayed that way. They were right to worry. Dr. James Andrews performed the surgery on March 17 in Pensacola, Florida, and Darvish missed the entire 2015 season. Amazon
The loss was staggering. Over the previous two seasons Darvish had pitched to a 2.92 ERA with 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings — establishing himself as one of the game’s most dominant arms and finishing second in 2013 AL Cy Young voting. Amazon With Darvish removed from the picture, Baseball Prospectus projections dropped Texas to only 78 wins. Baseball Hall of Fame
Darvish himself stayed characteristically calm. “I have no worries whatsoever,” he said. “I feel like during this time there are a lot of things I can do to make myself better, knowing this is going to make me better.” Dodger Blue
The normal recovery time from Tommy John surgery is 12-14 months Newspapers.com, meaning even an optimistic timeline pointed toward missing most of 2016 as well. Texas scrambled, eventually trading for Cole Hamels at the deadline to salvage their rotation — a move that worked better than anyone expected.
Darvish missed the entirety of 2015 and didn’t return to the rotation until mid-May 2016. Baseball-Reference.com When he came back he brought something unexpected with him. “For 10 years I’ve been throwing in my career,” Darvish said upon returning. “Sometimes it became routine and I wasn’t enjoying it as much. Having that time off, I feel like I’m enjoying throwing the ball more right now.” NBC Sports
The Rangers made the playoffs in 2015 without him anyway — a testament to the depth of that roster when healthy. But watching Darvish throw from 45 feet in an empty bullpen while his teammates played meaningful October baseball was a reminder of just how fragile even the best careers can be.
Darvish would go on to have more elbow trouble — announcing in late 2025 that he needed surgery again, this time internal brace surgery while with San Diego, expected to cost him the entire 2026 season at age 40. MLB Some pitchers just can’t escape the elbow.
For the Rangers in March 2015 though, none of that future was visible. All they could see was their ace in a sling and another long season ahead without him.
