The Texas Rangers are an American professional baseball team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Rangers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. The team was founded as the Washington Senators in 1961, an expansion team awarded to Washington, D.C., after the previous Senators incarnation moved to Minneapolis to become the Minnesota Twins. The new Senators relocated to Arlington, Texas after the season and debuted as the Rangers the next spring. In 2020, the Rangers moved to the new Globe Life Field after having played at Globe Life Park (Choctaw Stadium) from 1994 to 2019. The team's name derives from a historic law enforcement agency.
The Rangers have made nine appearances in the MLB postseason (all as the Rangers—in their iteration as the Washington Senators, the team never made the postseason). Seven of these followed division championships in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2010, 2011, 2015, and 2016; the remaining two were as a wild card team in 2012 and 2023. Until 2010, the Rangers were the only MLB team never to have advanced past the first round of the playoffs. In 2010, the Rangers advanced past the Division Series for the first time, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays. The team then won its first American League pennant, beating the New York Yankees in six games; league MVP Josh Hamilton won the first ALCS MVP award for a Ranger player. In their first appearance in a World Series, the Rangers fell to the San Francisco Giants in five games. They repeated as American League champions in 2011, but lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games after twice being one strike away from winning the series in game six. The Rangers made it to the 2023 World Series and won their first championship, defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games. Corey Seager was the first Ranger player to win the World Series Most Valuable Player Award.
From 1961 through 2025, the franchise's overall win–loss record is (). Since moving to Texas in 1972, the Rangers have an overall win–loss record of () through 2025.
History
Washington Senators (1961–1971)
When the original Washington Senators announced their move to Minnesota to become the Twins in 1961, Major League Baseball decided to expand a year earlier than planned to stave off the twin threats of competition from the proposed Continental League and loss of its exemption from the Sherman Antitrust Act. As part of the expansion, the American League added two expansion teams for the season–the Los Angeles Angels and a new Washington Senators team. The new Senators and Angels began to fill their rosters with American League players in an expansion draft. The team played their inaugural season at old Griffith Stadium, then moved to the new District of Columbia Stadium in 1962 under a ten-year lease.
For most of their existence, the new Senators epitomized futility, losing an average of 90 games a season. The team's struggles led to a twist on a joke about the old Senators: "Washington: first in war, first in peace and still last in the American League." Frank Howard, an outfielder/first baseman from 1965 to 1972 known for his towering home runs, was the team's most accomplished player, winning two home run titles.
The concurrent rise of the nearby Baltimore Orioles to regular championship contenders (winning their first World Series in ) certainly did not help the Senators draw crowds. Further expansion and re-alignment in 1969 did not do much to help the Senators either, since (unlike the National League) the AL owners elected to align their new divisions strictly based on geography. This arrangement placed both expansion teams (the Seattle Pilots and the Kansas City Royals) in the AL West, while pitting last place Washington against the AL's five best teams in the AL East. Despite this, the Senators managed a winning season in 1969 (their only winning record in the nation's capital) when Hall of Famer Ted Williams managed the club to an 86–76 finish, good enough for fourth in the AL East.
Ownership changed hands several times during the franchise's stay in Washington and was often plagued by poor decision-making and planning. Following their brief success in 1969, owner Bob Short was forced to make many questionable trades to lower the debt he had incurred to pay for the team in late 1968; the purchase price was reported at $9.4 million. By the end of the 1970 campaign, Short had issued an ultimatum: unless someone was willing to buy the Senators for $12 million (by comparison, the New York Yankees were sold in 1973 for $8.8 million), he would not renew the stadium lease and would move the team elsewhere.
At first, it looked like a move to Buffalo, New York, was in the works as at the time, a proposed multi-use stadium was in the cards in either downtown Buffalo where the current KeyBank Center is, or in suburban Lancaster to share with the Buffalo Bills; however, the project went over budget and the Senators started to look elsewhere while the Bills opened up Rich Stadium instead. Short was especially receptive to an offer brought up by Arlington, Texas, mayor Tom Vandergriff, who had been trying to obtain a major league sports team to play in the Metroplex for over a decade. Years earlier, Charles O. Finley, the owner of the Kansas City Athletics, sought to relocate his baseball team to Dallas, but the idea was rebuffed and ultimately declined by the other AL team owners (the A's ultimately moved to Oakland, California in 1968). Arlington's hole card was Turnpike Stadium, a 10,000-seat park built in 1965 to house the Double-A Dallas–Fort Worth Spurs of the Texas League. However, it had been built to MLB specifications, and only minor excavations would be necessary to expand the park to accommodate major league crowds.
Vandergriff's offer of a multimillion-dollar down payment prompted Short to make the move to Arlington. On September 21, 1971, American League owners voted 10–2 to allow the move of the franchise to Arlington for the 1972 season. Senators fans were livid, and enmity came to a head at the club's last game in Washington on Thursday, September 30. Thousands simply walked in without paying after the security guards left early, swelling the paid attendance of 14,460 to around 25,000, while fans unfurled a "SHORT STINKS" banner. With two outs in the top of the ninth inning and the Senators leading 7–5, several hundred youths stormed the field, raiding it for souvenirs. One man grabbed first base and ran off with it. With no security in sight and only three bases, umpire crew chief Jim Honochick forfeited the game to the New York Yankees.
The nation's capital went without Major League Baseball for 33 years until the National League's Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals in 2005.Expos finally found a new home , ESPN, September 29, 2004
Texas Rangers (1972–present)
Naming of the Rangers After moving from Washington, the Senators were renamed after the Texas Rangers, the state-wide investigative law-enforcement agency founded by Stephen F. Austin in 1823 when Texas was part of Mexico, whose mythology led to fictional characters such as The Lone Ranger and Walker, Texas Ranger.
First years in Texas (1972–1984)
Before the 1972 season, improvements were made to Turnpike Stadium, which reopened as Arlington Stadium, in preparation for the Rangers' inaugural season. The team played its first game on April 15, 1972, a 1–0 loss to the California Angels, their 1961 expansion cousins. The next day, the Rangers defeated the Angels, 5–1, for the club's first victory.
In 1974, the Rangers had their first winning season after finishing last in both 1972 and 1973. Under the ownership of Brad Corbett, they finished second in the American League West with an 84–76 record, behind the eventual World Series champion Oakland Athletics. The 1974 Rangers are still the only MLB team to finish above .500 after two consecutive 100-loss seasons. Mike Hargrove was awarded American League Rookie of the Year, Billy Martin was named AL Manager of the Year, Jeff Burroughs won AL MVP, and Ferguson Jenkins was named the Comeback Player of the Year after winning 25 games, still a club record. The team posted winning records again from 1977 to 1979 but fell short of reaching the playoffs. The Rangers came very close to clinching a playoff spot in 1981, but lost the first half of the AL West by one-and-a-half games to Oakland at the time of the players' strike. Texas finished under .500 each season through 1985.
The Rangers faced an attendance problem for a few years due to both the team's inconsistent performance and the oppressive heat and humidity that can encompass the area in the summer. Until the Florida Marlins arrived in 1993, Arlington Stadium was often the hottest stadium in the majors, with temperatures often topping in the summer. So the Rangers began playing most of their weekend games between May and September at night, a tradition that continued for years.
Valentine, Ryan, and Bush (1985–1994) Manager Bobby Valentine became steward over an influx of talent in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A winning season in 1986 was a shock to pundits and fans alike as the Rangers remained in the race for the American League pennant for the entire season. With a team consisting of stellar young rookies such as Rubén Sierra, Pete Incaviglia, Mitch Williams, Bobby Witt, and Edwin Correa, the Rangers finished the season in second place with an 87–75 record, just five games behind the division champion Angels. The season marked a dramatic 25-win improvement over the 1985 season, which resulted in yet another last place finish in the West.
The signing of 41-year-old star pitcher Nolan Ryan prior to the 1989 season allowed Ryan to reach his 5,000th strikeout, 300th win, and 6th and 7th no-hitters with the Rangers. Despite powerful lineups including Juan González, Rubén Sierra, Julio Franco, and Rafael Palmeiro and a pitching staff that also included Charlie Hough, Bobby Witt, Kevin Brown, and Kenny Rogers, Valentine's Rangers never finished above second place and he was relieved of his duties during the 1992 season.
In April 1989, Rangers owner and oil tycoon Eddie Chiles sold the team to an investment group headed by George W. Bush for $89 million. While his own equity in the team was small ($500,000), Bush was named managing general partner of the new ownership group. He increased his investment to $600,000 the next year.ESPN: "A series of beneficial moves" By Tom Farrey November 1, 1999 Bush left his position with the Rangers when he was elected Governor of Texas in 1994, and sold his stake in the team in 1998.
During Bush's tenure, the Rangers and the City of Arlington decided to replace the aging Arlington Stadium with a new publicly funded stadium at a cost of $193 million, financed by Arlington residents through a sales tax increase. Ground was broken on October 30, 1991, on what became The Ballpark in Arlington (now named Choctaw Stadium).
In 1993, Kevin Kennedy took over managerial duties, presiding over the team for two seasons, keeping the 1993 Rangers in the hunt for a playoff berth into mid-September; Nolan Ryan also retired after that season. Kennedy was let go in 1994, although the team led the AL West until the players' strike prompted commissioner Bud Selig to cancel the remainder of the season and the playoffs. On July 28, Kenny Rogers pitched the 12th perfect game in major league history in Arlington against the California Angels.
First division titles (1995–2000)