On Monday, nobody was eager to play two — and it was fair to wonder if the Rangers even wanted to play one.

At the start of their 7-0 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field, the temperature sat at a frigid 33 degrees, the coldest first pitch for a major league game since 2021. A biting 17 mph wind off Lake Michigan made it feel more like 23. By the second half of the game, the conditions had dropped into truly freezing territory — and so had the Rangers’ chances.

“It wasn’t pleasant,” said outfielder Kevin Pillar, offering perhaps the clearest summary of what it felt like inside the Rangers clubhouse. “But it’s part of the game. You don’t really like it, but you’ve got to do it. It’s not really baseball conditions, but they played a lot better than us.”

How cold was it? Bruce Bochy has managed more than 4,000 games across three decades, and according to Baseball Reference, Monday’s game marked the coldest first pitch of his entire managerial career. Bochy did mention that back in the 1980s, during his time in the minors, he played in games that started in 15-degree weather up in Calgary. We’ll take his word for it.

Regardless, it was freezing. The kind of cold that doesn’t belong in April baseball. And trying to draw meaningful conclusions about this team from a night like that just doesn’t make much sense. Sure, the Rangers have had a rough go offensively to open the season. And yes, they were shut down again on Monday by Cubs ace lefty Justin Steele. But it’s tough to say that one thing has much to do with the other. The Rangers struggled against left-handed starters last season, and so far this year, they’re 10-for-56 (.178) combined against the only two they’ve seen—Garret Crochet and Steele.

In the end, the Chicago weather-tested Cubs bested the Rangers 7-0.