Texas Rangers

Outside their loyal local fanbase, many baseball fans tend to forget how long the Texas Rangers have actually been around, especially if they are the type of fans who only really start watching in October. The Rangers began life in Washington, D.C. way back in 1961 as the first attempt to restore a franchise to the nation’s capital after their team relocated to Minneapolis to become the Minnesota Twins. These refurbished Washington Senators endured a torrid twelve seasons in D.C., finishing just once over .500 for a 4th place conference finish in 1969. Coming on the heels of the Houston Astros becoming the first MLB team in Texas, the Senators’ move to Arlington (between Dallas and Fort Worth) in 1972 to play alongside the storied Dallas Cowboys of the NFL was greeted with great enthusiasm. The team changed their name to the Texas Rangers* after the cowboy law enforcers who “opened” the Lone Star State to migration from the American East in the 1800s, becoming among the first to adopt the new technology of the revolver (pistol) in their wars against the Comanche and other strong Native American tribes of the region. The Rangers proved no more potent than the Senators, spending the better part of their first two decades near the bottom of the AL West division. Aggravatingly for the team and their fans, the first time that the Rangers “won” their division was in 1994, as they were in first place when the season was canceled due to the players strike (a similar fate to the Montreal Expos) and thus lost their first chance at a postseason adventure. Led by MVP Juan Gonzalez, the Rangers would soon make this right with three playoff appearances in four years between 1996 and 1999, though they lost all three to the Yankees, winning just a single game from ten attempts. The Rangers would then disappear from the postseason picture for a decade before returning in a big way, when, bolstered by the outstanding performance of MVP Josh Hamilton and Rookie of the Year Neftalí Feliz, the team not only bested the Tampa Bay Rays three games to two in the ALDS, but also finally defeated the New York Yankees in six games to reach the franchise’s first ever World Series. It proved too big an ask, with the high-powered San Francisco Giants beating the Rangers with relative ease in five games. The Rangers would be back the very next year, however, dumping the Rays again before taming the Detroit Tigers to earn a place in the 2011 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. It was a tightly fought series that turned in Game Six, when the Rangers, up three games to two with a chance to win their first ever World Series in front of a home crowd of nearly 50,000, blew a 7-5 lead in the 9th inning and 9-7 lead in the 10th inning before succumbing to a walkoff solo home run in the bottom of the 11th by David Freese to lose 10-9. This seemed to take the wind out of the Rangers' sails and they dropped Game Seven 6-2. A horrendous run of form between 2017-2022 with six straight below .500 seasons had fans wondering if the bad old days had returned, and so when the Rangers snuck into the playoffs in 2023 via the Wild Card, expectations were very measured. But after the team swept the Rays and Baltimore Orioles to set up an all-Texas showdown against the Astros (both teams had recorded identical regular season records on 90-72) in the ALCS, excitement rose to fever pitch and only kept on building as the series went to seven games after the Rangers leveled the series away in Houston by winning Game Six. With their history, Rangers fans cannot have gone into Game Seven feeling anything but shredded nerves, but it ended up being something of a blowout, with the Rangers winning 11-4 and heading back to the World Series. There, they would face their fellow Southern dusty desert cousins, the Arizona Diamondbacks, winning Game One 5-4 but alarming their home fans with a 9-1 defeat in Game Two. But this was to be the Rangers’ series, in the end, as the team from Arlington went on to claim all three following games away in Phoenix to bring home the World Series title that had eluded them before. Heading into 2024 and beyond, Rangers fans will no doubt be hoping that the 2023 triumph is only a sign of future victories to come. 

Texas Rangers Rivalries

The Lone Star Series (also sometimes called the Silver Boot Series) developed between the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros when interleague play began in 1997. Things heated up in 2013 when the Astros not only switched over to the American League but also entered the same division as the Rangers (the AL West). The seven-game ALCS series in 2023 was the first playoff meeting between the two teams and can only add to the burgeoning rivalry going forward. The Rangers also have a bit of a thing with the Los Angeles Angels based on many players who have played for both teams, some unfortunate tweets, and a couple of resulting punch ups. 

Sports-mad Texas is a fantastic place to go watch a baseball game, though the popularity of the Rangers, particularly after their 2023 World Series victory, means that it isn’t always easy to score tickets to the most in-demand games. Trust TicketX as your one-stop shop for the most affordable tickets to all the best Texas Rangers games! 

*The name Rangers has been criticized in some circles in recent years for its perceived insensitivity to minority groups in the United States. The franchise has responded by condemning racism and prejudice, but has decided to stick with the name (which is still in use by the New York Rangers of the NHL as well…be sure that you do not purchase the wrong Rangers tickets!).