Texas Rangers (baseball team)
| Texas Rangers | |
|---|---|
| Location: | Arlington, Texas |
| Year Founded: | 1961 |
| Colors: | blue, white, red, gray |
| Mascot: | Rangers Captain |
| Championships: | 0 |
| Website: | http://rangers.mlb.com/ |
The Texas Rangers are a Major League Baseball team located in Arlington, Texas. They play in the American League, Western Division.
Originally founded in 1961 as the second iteration of the Washington Senators (after the original Senators team relocated to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Twins), the team relocated to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in 1972. The team's name is taken from the the famous state law enforcement agency.
One of the more famous owners of the team was the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, who owned the team for a period of time; under his ownership it would make the playoffs for the first time in its long history.
The Rangers have appeared thrice in the World Series: 2010, 2011, and 2023, winning in 2023. Until their 2023 win they were the oldest MLB franchise not to win the World Series and the oldest franchise in any of the four major sports not to win its league title.
Home ballpark: Globe Life Park in Arlington.
World Series Titles: 1 (2023)
American League Pennants: 3 (2010, 2011, 2023)
Playoffs: 9 (1996, 1998, 1999, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2023)
The Mascot: A palomino horse named "Rangers Captain", his jersey features the number "72" (in honor of 1972 when the team relocated to Arlington) and matches the color scheme (red, white, or blue, depending on the choice of the Rangers' starting pitcher) being worn by the team for a particular game.
Team
The Texas Rangers are historically known as a team known with an explosive batting lineup that scores a lot of runs, but also a team with average or worse pitching giving up as many runs. As a notable example, a bizarre game on May 8, 2004 saw the Rangers (playing the Detroit Tigers) win the game 16-15 in 10 innings: the game featured a nearly hour-long fifth inning where the Rangers (losing 6-4 going into the inning) gave up eight runs in the top half of the inning, only to score ten runs in the bottom half of that same inning to tie the game at 14-14 (the 18 runs scored by both teams tied a then-MLB record).
However, the franchise is known for its willingness to accept players with prior off-field issues and has had some level of success in helping them turn their lives around; both Josh Hamilton (substance abuse) and Matt Bush (DUI resulting in a prison sentence as the result of hitting a motorcyclist) were former MLB #1 overall picks that ended up with the Rangers franchise. Tragically, Steve Howe (substance abuse), who when the Rangers signed him had to pay MLB a $250,000 fine for doing so, did not work out as well; he eventually died of a drug overdose.
They are also the only franchise which does not have a designated "Pride Night" in support of the LGBTQ+ movement.
Minor League Affiliates
The minor league affiliates of the Rangers are:
- AAA - Round Rock Express
- AA - Frisco RoughRiders
- A Adv. - Down East Wood Ducks
- A - Hickory Crawdads
- SS - Spokane Indians
- Rookie Leagues - AZL Rangers, DSL Rangers 1 and 2
