Texas Rangers Postseason History
1996 - The Rangers make the postseason for the first time in franchise history by winning the A.L. West Division with a 92-70 record. They would face off in the ALDS with East Division champ New York Yankees. Texas surprised the Yanks with a 6-2 win in game 1 at Yankee stadium with a solid pitching performance from John Burket and home runs from Juan Gonzalez and Dean Palmer. Despite winning their first postseason game in franchise history in game 1, the Rangers would drop the next three in the series. Juan Gonzalez would finish the series hitting .438 with 5 home runs and 9 RBI.
1998 - The Rangers win their second A.L. West title with an 88-74 record, but one again face the Yankees in the ALDS. The 114 - 48 East champion Yankees, at the peak of thier 90's dynasty, go on to stymie the Rangers by allowing only one run in 27 innings in the 3-game sweep.
1999 - Winning its third division title in four years with an franchise record 95-67 mark, the Rangers would once again be matched up with the Yankees in the ALDS. It would be a repeat of the '98 series with Texas only managing a solo Juan Gonzalez home run in game 2 as the only run they would score in the 3-0 series sweep.
2010 - With the solid bat of 2010 A.L. MVP Josh Hamilton who hit .359 and July trade acquisition pitcher Cliff Lee, the Rangers win their first division title since 1999. Texas would face the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS and win the series 3-2. Lee would outduel Rays ace David Price in both their head-to-head matchups.
Texas would face the New York Yankees in the ALCS next. After dropping the first game at Rangers Ballpark, Texas would have a solid performance from starter Colby Lewis and win their first ever postseason game at home in seven tries. The Rangers would go on to win games 3 & 4 before Lewis sealed the deal to their first ever World Series in franchise history with a game 6 win at home.
Texas would face N.L. pennant winner San Francisco Giants in the World Series. Former Cy Young winners Tim Lincecum and Cliff Lee would start game 1 with Linceum and the Giants winning 11-7. Rangers would drop game 2 before the series moved back to Arlington. Colby Lewis would win his 4th postseason game that year as Texas won game three 4-2. Unfortunaley, Texas would drop the next two games in Arlington as the Giants win their first world title since 1954.
2011 - Texas would recoup from the prior years World Series lost and sign free agent Adrian Beltre and aquire Mike Napoli in a trade from the Blue Jays. They would go on to win the West Division again and best the 1999 team for franchise wins at 96. Despite losing game 1 of the ALDS, Texas would win the next three against the Tampa Bay Rays to advance to their 2nd straight ALCS.
Rangers would take on 95-win A.L. Central champ Detroit Tigers in the ALCS. Texas would outslug the Tigers and win the series in 6 games with the help of outfielder Nelson Cruz, who finishes the series with 6 home runs, including the first MLB World Series walkoff grand slam to win game two 7-3, in extra innings.
In the the World Series, Texas would meet N.L. champ St. Louis Cardinals. After taking a 3-2 lead in the series, the Rangers would drop a series clinching game 6 in St. Louis. Texas had a 2-run lead going to the bottom of the ninth until Cards third-baseman David Freese stepped up to the plate with 2 runners on. Down in the count 1–2, Freese hit a Neftali Feliz fastball past a leaping Nelson Cruz off the wall for a triple, tying the game at seven in dramatic fashion. After Josh Hamilton gave Texas a 2-run lead again in the 10th with a moon-shot home run. The Cards would again tie it in the bottom of the 10th. David Freese would homer to dead center in the 11th frame to win the game for the Cards and force a game 7. With nothing left in the tank and drained from the emotional game 6 loss, Texas would drop the series with a 6-2 game 7 loss.
2012 - Texas led the A.L. West Division for most of the season, but faltered in the end and finished one game behind Oakland for the title. This would force the Rangers to the new wild card format, which was a win-or-go-home one game playoff against the Baltimore Orioles. Ace Yu Darvish pitched well, but the bats could only muster one run in the 5-1 loss.
2015 - As one of the hottest teams in the 2nd half, Texas won the A.L. West for the first time since 2011. They will take on the hottest team since July, the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALDS. The Jays are making thier first postseason appearance since 1993. TSH Prediction: Texas still has sever players left over from the back-to-back World Series teams including starting pitchers Colby Lewis and Derek Holland. Look for Texas to use this experience to tame the powerful Jays bats and take the series in five games.
