A franchises first taste of playoff baseball is always special. Way back in the day it meant World Series or failure, so of course a first time entry to the postseason would be automatically special. But with expansion and additional teams, the Championship Series was introduced. Then in the 90's came the Wild Card and Division Series (if you don't count the one off in 1981) and from there came the Wild Card game, turned Wild Card Series. So while "Hey, we made it to the NLDS" isn't quite the same as "We won the pennant" if you're a fan of a team that's never played in October, it's still a notable moment for your team.
After a decade of terrible baseball in DC, the Senators moved to Arlington and became the Texas Rangers. That was the only change though, as they continued to fall short of the postseason. As the calendar turned to the 1990's there was a shift at long last. In '95 Johnny Oates was hired to manage and the powerful offensive hitters were finally coming together.
For 1996, the Rangers went 90-72, winning the AL West by 4.5 games over the Mariners and locking in their place in the Division Series, ending the longest wait any team had to endure to make their first ever postseason. The accomplishment was so noteworthy that Oates would be the Co-Manager of the Year. This success wasn't a fluke either, as the Rangers would power their way to the division title for both 1998 and 1999 as well. The problem, however, was that in all three of those postseasons, they would run headfirst into the New York Yankees in the ALDS.
The 1996 ALDS saw MVP Juan Gonzalez go off, hitting 5 of the teams 6 Home Runs, including a 3 run shot in Game 1 that put Texas ahead for good in their 6-2 victory. Unfortunately, after the victory in their playoff debut, the Rangers offense would abandon them and the Yankees would take the next three games and the series...then go on to sweep the Rangers out in '98 and '99 giving the Rangers a 1-9 postseason record in the '90s, including an 0-4 record at home.
In fact, the Rangers would need 8 tries to finally win a postseason home game, a 2010 ALCS Game 2 victory over, of all teams, the Yankees.
The 1996 AL MVP was a Juan-man army for the Rangers, leading the team with 47 Home Runs and 144 RBI. This would be the first of a 3 season streak of winning a Silver Slugger.
Baseballs premier defensive Catcher was at it again as Pudge would make his 5th straight all star game, win his 5th straight Gold Glove, 3rd straight Silver Slugger and get MVP votes for the first time as he finished 10th. All those streaks would continue well into the future.
Other members of the offensive heavy Rangers lineup. Speed wasn't the most important element to their game, but McLemore managed to swipe a team leading 27, while Rusty Greer hit for a team high .332 Average.
With a powerful lineup like the Rangers had, the bench doesn't need to be too deep. Valle isn't half bad, too bad he was stuck behind a Hall of Famer at Catcher. I sure wouldn't mind Lee Stevens's chart either.
The Texas rotation had some mid-level talent that didn't need to do too much to reap the benefits of the offensive production. Ace Ken Hill pitched over 200 Innings while leading the squad with 170 Strikeouts and 16 Wins. Bobby Witt also had 16 Wins and was one out short of 200 Innings of his own. Roger Pavlik also managed to eclipse the 200 Innings mark and while he only had 15 Wins, he was the only pitcher on the team to be named to the all star game.
This was the end of the road for Mike Henneman, but he managed to go out on a high note, getting a career best 31 Saves.
Other notable arms on staff. Trade acquisition John Burkett could hang his hat on the accomplishment of being the only Ranger pitcher in history to win a postseason game before 2010. Other trade acquisition Mike Stanton wasn't as lucky, being one of the three losing pitchers in the ALDS vs the Yankees...though he'd join those Yankees the next season and take part in that dynasty, so a bit of consolation for him.
Kevin Elster's career had been derailed by injury in the early 90's. After signing with and getting released by a few teams, garnering very little playing time in the majors, the Rangers brought him in to serve as backup. However, starting Shortstop Benji Gil suffered an injury prior to the start of the season, and Elster found himself the new regular on opening day. He responded with a career year and winner of the Comeback Player of the Year award.
