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1996 Texas Rangers
	1996 AL West Champions
Major League affiliations
	American League (since 1961);
	Western Division (since 1972);
Location
	The Ballpark in Arlington (since 1994); Arlington, Texas (since 1972);
Results
Record	90-72 (.556)
Divisional place	1st
Other information
Owner(s)	George W. Bush
General manager(s)	Doug Melvin
Manager(s)	Johnny Oates
Local television	Prime Sports Southwest; KXTX-TV; KXAS-TV; (Mark Holtz, Tom Grieve)
Local radio	KRLD; (Eric Nadel, Brad Sham ); KXEB; (Luis Mayoral, Josue Perez)
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The Texas Rangers 1996 season involved the Rangers finishing 1st in the American League west with a record of 90 wins and 72 losses. It would be the first post-season appearance for the Rangers in franchise history, taking 36 seasons to finally accomplish the feat. This remains the longest amount of time it has ever taken any North American professional sports franchise to make their first playoff appearance. The Rangers would win their first post-season game at Yankee Stadium against the New York Yankees, but would lose the last three games to lose the division series. The one post-season win would be the club's only post-season success until 2010.

Offseason

October 8, 1995: Scott Podsednik was sent by the Rangers to the Florida Marlins to complete an earlier deal (the Rangers sent players to be named later to the Marlins for Bobby Witt, and sent Wilson Heredia to the Marlins on August 11) and made on August 8, 1995.^[1]
December 21, 1995: Ken Hill was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.^[2]
December 22, 1995: Mike Henneman was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.^[3]
January 16, 1996: Kevin Elster was signed as a Free Agent with the Texas Rangers.^[4]

Regular season

Season standings

v t e AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Texas Rangers	90	72	0.556	--	50-31	40-41
Seattle Mariners	85	76	0.528	4½	43-38	42-38
Oakland Athletics	78	84	0.481	12	40-41	38-43
California Angels	70	91	0.435	19½	43-38	27-53

Record vs. opponents

1996 American League Records v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	--	7-6	6-6	4-8	5-7	11-2	9-3	9-3	7-5	3-10	9-4	7-5	3-10-1	8-5
Boston	6-7	--	8-4	6-6	1-11	12-1	3-9	7-5	6-6	7-6	8-5	7-6	6-6	8-5
California	6-6	4-8	--	6-6	4-9	6-6	4-8	7-5	4-8	7-6	6-7	5-8	4-9	7-5
Chicago	8-4	6-6	6-6	--	5-8	10-3	7-6	6-7	6-7	6-7	5-7	5-7	8-4	7-5
Cleveland	7-5	11-1	9-4	8-5	--	12-0	7-6	7-6	10-3	3-9	6-6	8-4	4-8	7-5
Detroit	2-11	1-12	6-6	3-10	0-12	--	6-6	4-8	6-6	5-8	4-8	6-6	4-9	6-7
Kansas City	3-9	9-3	8-4	6-7	6-7	6-6	--	4-9	6-7	4-8	5-7	7-5	6-6	5-8
Milwaukee	3-9	5-7	5-7	7-6	6-7	8-4	9-4	--	9-4	6-6	7-5	4-9	6-7	5-7
Minnesota	5-7	6-6	8-4	7-6	3-10	6-6	7-6	4-9	--	5-7	6-7	6-6	7-5	8-5
New York	10-3	6-7	6-7	7-6	9-3	8-5	8-4	6-6	7-5	--	9-3	3-9	5-7	8-5
Oakland	4-9	5-8	7-6	7-5	6-6	8-4	7-5	5-7	7-6	3-9	--	8-5	7-6	4-8
Seattle	5-7	6-7	8-5	7-5	4-8	6-6	5-7	9-4	6-6	9-3	5-8	--	10-3	5-7
Texas	10-3-1	6-6	9-4	4-8	8-4	9-4	6-6	7-6	5-7	7-5	6-7	3-10	--	10-2
Toronto	5-8	5-8	5-7	5-7	5-7	7-6	8-5	7-5	5-8	5-8	8-4	7-5	2-10	--

Game log

Detailed records

American League
Opponent	W	L	WP	RS	RA
AL East
Baltimore Orioles	10	3	0.769	91	55
Boston Red Sox	6	6	0.500	95	63
Detroit Tigers	9	4	0.692	65	37
New York Yankees	7	5	0.583	68	48
Toronto Blue Jays	10	2	0.833	72	45
Total	42	20	0.677	391	248
AL Central
Chicago White Sox	4	8	0.333	53	86
Cleveland Indians	8	4	0.667	77	67
Kansas City Royals	6	6	0.500	50	44
Milwaukee Brewers	7	6	0.538	75	77
Minnesota Twins	5	7	0.417	76	65
Total	30	31	0.492	331	339
AL West
California Angels	9	4	0.692	74	51
Oakland Athletics	6	7	0.462	76	71
Seattle Mariners	3	10	0.231	56	90
Texas Rangers
Total	18	21	0.462	206	212
Season Total	90	72	0.556	928	799

Month	Games	Won	Lost	Win %	RS	RA
April	26	16	10	0.615	169	135
May	27	18	9	0.667	139	103
June	27	14	13	0.519	175	155
July	27	13	14	0.481	153	139
August	28	16	12	0.571	165	130
September	27	13	14	0.481	127	137
Total	162	90	72	0.556	928	799

Total	162	90	72	0.556	928	799
	Games	Won	Lost	Win %	RS	RA
Home	81	50	31	0.617	508	407
Away	81	40	41	0.494	419	391

Notable transactions

April 13, 1996: Jack Voigt was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.^[5]
June 4, 1996: Travis Hafner was drafted by the Rangers in the 31st round of the 1996 Major League Baseball draft. Player signed June 2, 1997.^[6]
July 31, 1996: Mark Brandenburg and Kerry Lacy were traded by the Rangers to the Boston Red Sox for Mike Stanton and a player to be named later. The Red Sox completed the deal by sending Dwayne Hosey to the Rangers on November 4.^[7]

Roster

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Ivan Rodriguez	153	649	192	.300	19	86
1B	Will Clark	117	436	124	.284	13	72
2B	Mark Mclemore	147	517	150	.290	5	46
SS	Kevin Elster	157	515	130	.252	24	99
3B	Dean Palmer	154	582	163	.280	38	107
LF	Rusty Greer	139	542	180	.332	18	100
CF	Darryl Hamilton	148	627	184	.293	6	51
RF	Juan Gonzalez	134	541	170	.314	47	144
DH	Mickey Tettleton	143	491	121	.246	24	83

Other batters

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Jack Voigt	5	9	1	.111	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Kevin Gross	28	129.1	11	8	5.22	78
Ken Hill	35	250.2	16	10	3.63	170
Darren Oliver	30	173.2	14	6	4.66	112
Roger Pavik	34	201.0	15	8	5.19	127
Bobby Witt	33	199.2	16	12	5.41	157

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

ALDS

Game 1, October 1

Yankee Stadium, The Bronx, New York


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Texas	0	0	0	5	0	1	0	0	0	6	8	0
New York	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	10	0
WP: John Burkett (1-0) LP: David Cone (0-1) Home runs: Tex: Juan González (1), Dean Palmer (1) NYY: None

Game 2, October 2

Yankee Stadium, The Bronx, New York


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	R	H	E
Texas	0	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	8	1
New York	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	5	8	0
WP: Brian Boehringer (1-0) LP: Mike Stanton (0-1) Home runs: Tex: Juan González (2, 3) NYY: Cecil Fielder (1)

Game 3, October 4

The Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington, Texas


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	7	1
Texas	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	6	1
WP: Jeff Nelson (1-0) LP: Darren Oliver (0-1) Sv: John Wetteland (1) Home runs: NYY: Bernie Williams (1) Tex: Juan González (4)

Game 4, October 5

The Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington, Texas


Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	0	0	0	3	1	0	1	0	1	6	12	1
Texas	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	9	0
WP: David Weathers (1-0) LP: Roger Pavlik (0-1) Sv: John Wetteland (2) Home runs: NYY: Bernie Williams (2, 3) Tex: Juan González (5)

Awards and honors

Kevin Elster, Comeback Player of The Year
Juan González, AL MVP
Juan González, Silver Slugger Award
Johnny Oates, AL Managers of the Year (was co-manager with Joe Torre)
Iván Rodríguez, C, Gold Glove
Iván Rodríguez, Silver Slugger Award

All-Star Game

Notes

^ Scott Podsednik at Baseball Reference
^ Ken Hill at Baseball Reference
^ Mike Henneman at Baseball Reference
^ https://www.baseball-reference.com/e/elsteke01.shtml
^ Jack Voigt at Baseball Reference
^ Travis Hafner at Baseball Reference
^ Mike Stanton at Baseball Reference

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Oklahoma City 89ers	American Association	Greg Biagini
AA	Tulsa Drillers	Texas League	Bobby Jones
A	Charlotte Rangers	Florida State League	Butch Wynegar
A	Charleston RiverDogs	South Atlantic League	Gary Allenson
A-Short Season	Hudson Valley Renegades	New York-Penn League	Bump Wills
Rookie	GCL Rangers	Gulf Coast League	Jim Byrd

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Oklahoma City

Hudson Valley affiliation shared with Tampa Bay Devil Rays

References

1996 Texas Rangers at Baseball Reference
1996 Texas Rangers at Baseball Almanac
Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.

[1] Scott Podsednik at Baseball Reference

[2] Ken Hill at Baseball Reference

[3] Mike Henneman at Baseball Reference

[4] ttps://www.baseball-reference.com/e/elsteke01.shtml

[5] Jack Voigt at Baseball Reference

[6] Travis Hafner at Baseball Reference

[7] Mike Stanton at Baseball Reference

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1996 Texas Rangers
1996 AL West Champions
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1961)
Western Division (since 1972)
Location
The Ballpark in Arlington (since 1994) Arlington, Texas (since 1972)
Results
Record	90-72 (.556)
Divisional place	1st
Other information
Owner(s)	George W. Bush
General manager(s)	Doug Melvin
Manager(s)	Johnny Oates
Local television	Prime Sports Southwest KXTX-TV KXAS-TV (Mark Holtz, Tom Grieve)
Local radio	KRLD (Eric Nadel, Brad Sham ) KXEB (Luis Mayoral, Josue Perez)
< Previous season Next season >