Texas Rangers

Team information

• Inaugural season: 1961
• Home ballpark: Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas
• Owner: Rangers Baseball Express
• Team colors: Blue, red, and white

Overview

The Texas Rangers are a Major League Baseball (MLB) team that plays in the American League West division. The Rangers were established in 1961 as the Washington Senators, themselves a replacement for a previous Senators franchise that left the city a year earlier. After several losing seasons, the Senators were enticed to leave Washington in 1972 and relocate to the Dallas, Texas, area. Now called the Rangers, the franchise began a slow climb to respectability, often finishing in the top half of the standings but always short of the playoffs. Powered by a formidable offense, Texas finally broke through in the late 1990s, making three—albeit brief—playoff appearances. Although the Rangers made back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011, they remained one of only six MLB teams without a championship by the start of the 2020s. The 2011 World Series was particularly heartbreaking, as the team was twice within one out of winning a title, only to lose the lead and eventually the game. However, a successful 2023 season saw the Rangers go on a postseason tear that culminated in a five-game victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the World Series, earning the team its first World Series championship.

History

The original Washington Senators were formed in 1901 as one of the charter franchises of the American League. Washington was one of the AL’s best teams in the 1920s and early 1930s but later fell on hard times and sank to the bottom of the standings. After years of losing games and fan support, the Senators departed Washington for Minnesota in 1960. Before allowing the team to leave, MLB secured an expansion franchise for Washington to replace the Senators. This new team was also called the Senators and began play in 1961.

The new Senators continued the streak of bad baseball played in the nation’s capital. Washington lost more than 100 games in each of its first four seasons, culminating in a franchise worst 56–106 record in 1963. After four more losing seasons, Washington hired former Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams as manager for the 1969 season. The now-retired Hall of Famer had never managed before but led the franchise to its first winning season, 86–76. However, the success was short-lived, and the Senators soon returned to their losing ways.

In the late 1960s, MLB was looking to expand into four new markets, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas was one of the cities considered for a new team. When the league decided to place the franchises elsewhere in 1969, Dallas officials began focusing their efforts on luring an existing team to Texas. They approached Bob Short, the owner of the Senators, who saw it as an opportunity to move the financially struggling franchise. In September 1971, the NL approved the relocation of the Senators to Texas for the 1972 season. On the last day of the 1971 season, angry Washington fans stormed the field with two outs in the ninth inning and Washington leading 7–5. The fans began grabbing on-field souvenirs—including first base—forcing the Senators to forfeit their final game in Washington.

For its new name, the team chose the Texas Rangers, a reference to the state’s famed law enforcement agency first established in the 1820s. The Rangers’ ballpark was located in the city of Arlington, part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. In its first two seasons in Texas, the franchise lost more than 100 games before rebounding in 1974 with an 84–76 record. On offense, the team was led by outfielder Jeff Burroughs who won the AL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award. Pitcher Fergie Jenkins won 25 games on the mound and finished second in the AL Cy Young Award voting.

For the remainder of the 1970s, Texas fielded a competitive squad that often finished in either second or third place, just outside of playoff contention. After taking a step back in the 1980s, the Rangers spent much of the early 1990s winning just enough games to stay above or near .500. In 1989, the Rangers were sold to a group of businesspeople led by George W. Bush, who would later go on to become president of the United States. During this time, Texas was putting together a roster of power hitters that would grow into one of the AL’s most feared lineups. This group included catcher Ivan Rodriguez, outfielders Juan Gonzalez and Rusty Greer, and third baseman Dean Palmer.

By 1996, the Rangers’ offense had propelled them to the top of the AL West standings and the first playoff appearance in franchise history. In 1998 and 1999, Texas led the AL in team batting average and again won its division and a berth in the postseason. However, the Rangers’ pitching was never able to keep pace with its offense, a weakness that was exposed in the playoffs. In all three postseason appearances, the Rangers were defeated in the opening round by the more balanced New York Yankees. New York won the 1996 series 3–1, and swept Texas 3–0 in both 1998 and 1999.

The Rangers’ success of the 1990s did not carry over into the 2000s, as the franchise played sub-.500 baseball for much of the decade. Even while the team struggled, Texas was constructing a young roster of players that included talented pitching prospects as well as capable hitters. In 2010, the strategy paid off as Texas blossomed into a contender. The Rangers won their first-ever playoff series with a 3–2 opening round defeat of the Tampa Bay Rays, and got some revenge in the American League Championship Series (ALCS) by defeating the Yankees 4–2. However, Texas was never a factor in the 2010 World Series, which was won easily by the San Francisco Giants.

In 2011, the Rangers posted a franchise-best 96 wins and advanced to their second consecutive World Series—this time against the St. Louis Cardinals. With Texas up in the series 3–2 and holding a 7–5 lead with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in Game Six, the Rangers needed just one more out to win their first championship. St. Louis had two runners on base when Cardinals third baseman David Freese hit a line drive into right field that looked like it was going to be caught for the third out. However, the ball kept carrying and resulted in a game-tying triple. Texas took another two-run lead in the tenth inning, only to see St. Louis tie the game again with two outs. The Cardinals won the game in the bottom of the eleventh and won the series in Game Seven the next night. Texas made three more playoff appearances from 2012 to 2016 but lost in the opening round each time.

The team's postseason woes ended in 2023 after defeating the Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, and Houston Astros to advance to the World Series to play the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Rangers went on to defeat the Diamondbacks in five games, which earned the franchise its first-ever World Series championship.

Notable players

Multiple former players and managers associated with the Texas Rangers franchise have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame; however, most of those were elected for accomplishments primarily achieved with other teams. Fergie Jenkins won 284 games over a nineteen-year career with four teams. He played for the Rangers in 1974 and 1975 and again from 1978 to 1981. He set the franchise record for shutouts with 17 and is fourth all-time in wins with 93. Pitcher Nolan Ryan is the all-time MLB leader in strikeouts with 5,714 in his twenty-seven-year career. Ryan spent his final five seasons with Texas from 1989 to 1993, throwing two of his MLB-record seven no-hitters with the Rangers.

Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez spent the majority of his career with the Rangers. Nicknamed “Pudge,” Rodriguez played for Texas from 1991 to 2002. He won the 1999 AL MVP and made ten of his fourteen All-Star appearances with Texas. Rodriguez was considered one of the best defensive catchers in baseball history, winning a record thirteen Gold Glove awards over his twenty-one-year career. Two teammates of Rodriguez’s from the 1990s have resumes that would normally be Hall-of-Fame worthy, but they were later connected to the use of performance-enhancing drugs, virtually eliminating them from consideration. Rafael Palmeiro played in Texas from 1989 to 1993 and again from 1999 to 2003. He is second in franchise history with 321 home runs and 1,039 runs batted in (RBIs). Juan Gonzalez was a Ranger from 1989 to 1999 and again in 2002 and 2003. Gonzalez won the 1996 and 1998 AL MVP Awards and holds the franchise records for home runs with 372 and RBIs with 1,180.

Infielder Michael Young, who played with the Rangers from 2000 to 2012, is the team leader in hits with 2,230 and runs scored with 1,085. Among his teammates on the 2010 and 2011 World Series squads were outfielders Josh Hamilton, who won the 2010 AL MVP Award, and Nelson Cruz who made two All-Star teams with Texas from 2006 to 2013. Third Baseman Adrian Beltre played with the Rangers from 2011 until he retired in 2018. Beltre finished his twenty-one-year career with 3,166 hits and 477 home runs, statistics that likely will land him in the Hall of Fame when he is eligible. Beltre had 1,277 of those hits and 199 of those home runs with Texas.

Bibliography

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