Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field
After the 2019 season, the Rangers moved across the street in Arlington to their new digs, Globe Life Field. The team had been playing in the retro stadium first known as The Ballpark in Arlington. The new $1.1 billion ballpark features a retractable roof to ward off the sweltering Texas summer, and center field now faces northeast instead of southeast. Plans for the stadium complex include a shopping mall, a hotel and a ballpark village.
Texas Rangers History
First they were named for politicians, and then for the police. Born as the Washington Senators in 1961, the franchise moved to Arlington, Texas, after the 1971 season and became the Rangers. For years, though, whatever power might've been connoted by the two nicknames never quite found its way into the bats. The team cracked .500 just once in its first decade of existence. In 1974, the Rangers went 84–76 and finished second in the AL West, led by AL MVP Jeff Burroughs, AL Rookie of the Year Mike Hargrove, AL Comeback Player of the Year Ferguson Jenkins and AL Manager of the Year Billy Martin. That season is memorable for more than just the baseball. On June 4, the Rangers played the Indians in Cleveland on Ten Cent Beer Night, a hilariously ill-conceived promotion. In the ninth inning, a fan ran onto the field and swiped Burroughs' hat, and a near riot ensued as fans and players poured onto the field.
It wasn't until 1996 that the Rangers finally cracked the playoffs. That team went 90–72 and won the division, ultimately falling to the Yankees in the ALDS, 3–1. This was the entertaining era of the Iván "Pudge" Rodriguez/Juan González Rangers, with skipper Johnny Oates in the dugout. Together, Rodriguez and González would account for three MVP awards in four seasons, and Oates himself would be named manager of the year in 1996. The Rangers again won the AL West in 1998 and 1999, and both times their seasons ended with 3–0 sweeps at the hands of the Yankees.
They returned to contention in 2010 with a juggernaut that included AL MVP and batting champ Josh Hamilton and veteran slugger Vladimir Guerrero, and an underrated manager in Ron Washington. After a 90–72 campaign, the Rangers topped the Rays in the ALDS and finally bested the Yankees in the ALCS, only to lose to the Giants 4–1 in the World Series. The Rangers were even better the next year, going 96–66, and returned to the World Series, where they had their hearts broken by the Cardinals. The key moments came in Game 6, with Texas leading the series 3–2. Twice, the Rangers found themselves one strike from winning their first World Series, and twice they were thwarted, with the game ending in the 11th inning with David Freese's walk-off home run, and the series ending the next day with the Cardinals' 6-2 victory.