ARLINGTON, Tex. — When Yu Darvish arrived in Texas from Japan in 2012, the Rangers were coming off consecutive World Series appearances.

As was expected with his celebrated entrance then, Darvish is pitching for a World Series contender. However, he is doing so out on the West Coast for the Los Angeles Dodgers instead of in Texas, where he never won a postseason game and was not even part of winning a playoff series.

With a third straight American League West title long out of reach, and a wild-card spot becoming ever more distant with each loss, the Rangers obtained three minor league players for Darvish, the pitcher they spent more than two years scouting and more than $107 million to acquire.

After completing a trade with the Dodgers minutes before Monday’s nonwaiver deadline, Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels was asked if he thought Darvish was worth it — the time, $56 million in salary and more than $51 million the Rangers had to pay his team in Japan.