Texas Rangers: How Close?

This is a series of posts that will look at the closest Major League Baseball franchises have been to winning their last pennant and last World Series Championship. Four teams have won neither a World Series nor a pennant. Some teams have won a pennant, but no World Series. Many have won both, but its been a while since their last.

This post regards the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers have not won a World Series or pennant. They have appeared in the playoffs three times. They were AL West champions in 1996, 1998, and 1999.

More on those in a moment. First a little history.

The Texas Rangers started out as the Washington Senators in 1961. This franchise replaced the AL franchise that moved from Washington to Minnesota after the 1960 season. From 1961-1971, the Senators recorded just one winning season. That was in 1969. Ted Williams -- yes, that Ted Williams -- managed them to an 86-76 record, which was good for fourth place(23 games behind Baltimore) in the first year of the AL East.

The next time this franchise had a winning record was 1974 with Billy Martin at the head of an 84-76 team that finished five games behind Oakland in the AL West.

The Rangers had a handful of second and third place finishes in the AL West between 1974 and 1993 with managers like Doug Rader, Bobby Valentine, Don Zimmer, and Kevin Kennedy. But, the closest to a Division title in that stretch was five games behind the California Angels in 1986.

Kennedy and the Rangers nearly made history in 1994. They were 52-62 after a loss to the Seattle Mariners on August 10. However, Texas still led Oakland by 1/2 game in the AL West. It was looking like the Rangers, or possibly the winner of the West in 1994 would have made the playoffs with a losing record. But, the strike started and the season never restarted.

The 1996 Rangers got into the playoffs with a 90-72 record as AL West Champions. Their first round match up was with the New York Yankees.

Game one was a Ranger win at Yankee Stadium. New York got an early lead with Bernie Williams RBI grounder in the bottom of the first off John Burkett.

Texas punched five runs across the plate against David Cone in the top of the fourth. Juan Gonzalez hit a three run homer, Dean Palmer hit a two-run homer, and it was 5-1 Rangers.

Burkett allowed an RBI single to Mariano Duncan in the bottom of the inning. Then, the Rangers got an RBI single from Mark McLemore in the top of the sixth for a 6-2 advantage. That was enough for Burkett. He scattered ten hits for a complete game victory and a 1-0 lead in the series.

Game two of that series was also in New York. The game was tied 1-1 after the second inning. Gonzalez homered off Andy Pettitte in the top of the inning and Jim Leyritz knocked in a run with a fielder's choice in the bottom of the inning off Ken Hill.

Texas took a 4-1 lead in the top of the third. There were two out and two on base for Gonzalez. The third homer of the series for Gonzalez gave the Rangers a three-run cushion.

Hill gave back a run on a Cecil Fielder homer in the fourth. A pinch-hit sac fly by Charlie Hayes in the bottom of the seventh cut the lead to 4-3.

In the eighth, New York tied the game against Jeff Russell. Williams singled. He moved to second on a flyball to left. Fielder singled in Williams for a 4-4 game.

Texas went down quietly in the ninth, but had the lead off batter get aboard in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth. Still tied going to the bottom of the twelfth.

Mike Stanton gave up a leadoff single to this Derek Jeter kid. Then, Tim Raines walked. Mike Henneman relieved Stanton to face Hayes. Hayes dropped a sacrifice bunt and Palmer threw the ball away. Jeter scored and the Yankees tied the series.

Game three and game four in Texas also followed similar patterns. The Rangers had leads, but could not hold them.

In game three, the Rangers trailed 1-0 after Williams homer off Darren Oliver in the first inning. But, Texas rallied to take a 2-1 lead on single runs in the fourth and fifth innings off Jimmy Key. Gonzalez homered in the fourth (homer number four of the series) and Ivan Rodriguez doubled in the go-ahead run in the fifth.

Oliver kept the Yankees off the board until the ninth. That Jeter kid singled and Raines followed with another single to put runners at first and third with no outs. Henneman relieved Oliver. But, Williams drove in Jeter with a sac fly to tie the game. Duncan came to the plate later in the inning with two out and Raines at second. Duncan knocked in the go ahead run. John Wetteland pitched a scoreless ninth and the Yankees had a 2-1 series lead.

In game four, the Rangers were up 4-0 after three innings. But, the Yankees outscored Texas 6-0 the rest of the way to clinch the series and move on to the next round and an eventual World Series Championship.

The Rangers would get into the playoff two more times as Western Division champions. But, the Yankees swept Texas out of the post season in the first round in both 1998 and 1999. They have not been back since 1999.

Based on the cursory look back, the answer to Texas Rangers: How Close?

October 4, 1996. The Rangers were three outs from being up 2-1 in the divisional series against the Yankees.

That put them within 30 outs of winning the first round; 5 games and three outs from an AL pennant, and 9 games and three outs from a World Series championship.