1996 Texas Rangers season

1996 Texas Rangers
1996 Texas Rangers
American League West Champions
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	The Ballpark in Arlington
City	Arlington, Texas
Record	90–72 (.556)
Divisional place	1st
Owners	George W. Bush
General managers	Doug Melvin
Managers	Johnny Oates
Television	KXTX-TV 39; KXAS-TV 5; (Mark Holtz, Tom Grieve)
Radio	KRLD–AM 1080; (Eric Nadel, Brad Sham); KXEB–AM 910; (Luis Mayoral, Josue Perez)

The 1996 Texas Rangers season was the 36th of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 25th in Arlington as the Rangers, and their 3rd season at The Ballpark in Arlington. The Rangers finished first in the American League West with a record of 90 wins and 72 losses. It would be the first post-season appearance for the Senators/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
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Texas Rangers	90	72	.556	—	50‍–‍31	40‍–‍41
Seattle Mariners	85	76	.528	4½	43‍–‍38	42‍–‍38
Oakland Athletics	78	84	.481	12	40‍–‍41	38‍–‍43
California Angels	70	91	.435	19½	43‍–‍38	27‍–‍53

Record vs. opponents

1996 American League record 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	—

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

1996 Texas Rangers

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

9 Luis Ortiz

Manager

26 Johnny Oates

Coaches

17 Dick Bosman (pitching)
20 Bucky Dent (bench)
25 Larry Hardy (bullpen)
8 Rudy Jaramillo (hitting)
12 Ed Napoleon (first base)
5 Jerry Narron (third base)

Game log

Regular season

Game log

1996 Game Log: 90–72 (Home: 50–31; Away: 40–41)

April: 16–10 (Home: 11–4; Away: 5–6)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
1	April 1	Red Sox	5–3	Hill (1–0)	Clemens	Vosberg (1)	40,484	1–0
2	April 3	Red Sox	7–2	Pavlik (1–0)	Gordon	—	24,483	2–0
3	April 4	Red Sox	13–2	Gross (1–0)	Wakefield	—	18,086	3–0
4	April 6	Yankees	4–2	Witt (1–0)	Key	Henneman (1)	35,510	4–0
5	April 7	Yankees	7–2	Hill (2–0)	Gooden	—	—	5–0
6	April 7	Yankees	4–1	Pavlik (2–0)	Howe	Vosberg (2)	36,248	6–0
7	April 9	@ White Sox	3–2	Gross (2–0)	Thomas	Henneman (2)	34,750	7–0
8	April 11	@ White Sox	5–8 (11)	Thomas	Henneman (0–1)	—	16,685	7–1
9	April 12	@ Yankees	3–4	Cone	Hill (2–1)	Wetteland	20,238	7–2
10	April 13	@ Yankees	10–6	Pavlik (3–0)	Gooden	Vosberg (3)	19,603	8–2
11	April 14	@ Yankees	3–12	Pettitte	Gross (2–1)	—	20,181	8–3
12	April 15	Athletics	3–8	Mohler	Heredia (0–1)	—	19,312	8–4
13	April 16	Athletics	5–3	Witt (2–0)	Johns	Henneman (3)	20,948	9–4
14	April 17	Athletics	12–1	Hill (3–1)	Reyes	—	24,120	10–4
15	April 19	Orioles	26–7	Cook (1–0)	Mercker	Vosberg (4)	41,184	11–4
16	April 20	Orioles	8–3	Gross (3–1)	Haynes	—	45,358	12–4
17	April 21	Orioles	9–6	Oliver (1–0)	Wells	—	39,456	13–4
18	April 22	White Sox	4–12	Fernandez	Witt (2–1)	Karchner	22,348	13–5
19	April 23	White Sox	5–6	Baldwin	Hill (3–2)	Hernandez	29,123	13–6
20	April 24	@ Red Sox	9–11	Stanton	Heredia (0–2)	Slocumb	19,217	13–7
21	April 25	@ Red Sox	3–8	Wakefield	Gross (3–2)	—	20,350	13–8
22	April 26	@ Orioles	5–4	Brandenburg (1–0)	Wells	Henneman (4)	44,022	14–8
23	April 27	@ Orioles	4–2	Witt (3–1)	Erickson	Vosberg (5)	47,311	15–8
24	April 28	@ Orioles	5–4 (10)	Heredia (1–2)	McDowell	Henneman (5)	47,327	16–8
25	April 29	@ Orioles	7–8	Haynes	Helling (0–1)	Myers	41,503	16–9
26	April 30	Mariners	0–8	Bosio	Gross (3–3)	—	27,272	16–10

May: 18–9 (Home: 11–3; Away: 7–6)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
27	May 1	Mariners	5–4	Russell (1–0)	Jackson	Henneman (6)	31,775	17–10
28	May 2	@ Tigers	2–5	Lira	Witt (3–2)	Williams	7,416	17–11
29	May 3	@ Tigers	11–0	Hill (4–2)	Keagle	—	9,079	18–11
30	May 4	@ Tigers	3–1	Pavlik (4–0)	Gohr	—	10,734	19–11
31	May 5	@ Tigers	3–2	Gross (4–3)	Lima	Henneman (7)	12,337	20–11
32	May 7	Blue Jays	5–1	Oliver (2–0)	Guzman	—	23,005	21–11
33	May 8	Blue Jays	4–2	Witt (4–2)	Hanson	Henneman (8)	20,694	22–11
34	May 9	Blue Jays	2–5	Quantrill	Hill (4–3)	Timlin	34,451	22–12
35	May 10	Tigers	6–2	Pavlik (5–0)	Lima	Henneman (9)	31,426	23–12
36	May 11	Tigers	11–7	Gross (5–3)	Aldred	—	42,732	24–12
37	May 12	Tigers	3–5	Lira	Oliver (2–1)	Myers	35,677	24–13
38	May 13	Royals	7–6	Cook (2–0)	Montgomery	Henneman (10)	22,981	25–13
39	May 14	Royals	10–0	Hill (5–3)	Gubicza	—	28,999	26–13
40	May 15	Royals	1–3	Haney	Pavlik (5–1)	Montgomery	26,881	26–14
41	May 17	@ Indians	10–12	Embree	Heredia (1–3)	Mesa	41,225	26–15
42	May 18	@ Indians	6–3	Oliver (3–1)	Anderson	Henneman (11)	40,973	27–15
43	May 19	@ Indians	5–8	Nagy	Witt (4–3)	Mesa	43,299	27–16
44	May 21	@ Twins	3–4	Milchin	Henneman (0–2)	—	12,323	27–17
45	May 22	@ Twins	6–5	Pavlik (6–1)	Parra	Henneman (12)	17,955	28–17
46	May 23	@ Royals	2–4	Appier	Oliver (3–2)	Montgomery	15,612	28–18
47	May 24	@ Royals	0–8	Gubicza	Witt (4–4)	—	13,696	28–19
48	May 25	@ Royals	2–1	Helling (1–1)	Haney	Henneman (13)	23,668	29–19
49	May 26	@ Royals	6–4	Hill (6–3)	Linton	Henneman (14)	22,665	30–19
50	May 27	Indians	3–2	Pavlik (7–1)	McDowell	—	46,521	31–19
51	May 28	Indians	11–3	Oliver (4–2)	Hershiser	—	35,727	32–19
52	May 29	Indians	5–4	Cook (3–0)	Tavarez	Henneman (15)	35,893	33–19
53	May 31	Twins	7–2	Hill (7–3)	Rodriguez	—	32,861	34–19

June: 14–13 (Home: 9–5; Away: 5–8)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
54	June 1	Twins	5–9	Milchin	Henneman (0–3)	—	43,413	34–20
55	June 2	Twins	5–6	Guardado	Russell (1–1)	—	33,809	34–21
56	June 3	@ Brewers	9–6	Witt (5–4)	Sparks	Henneman (16)	9,748	35–21
57	June 4	@ Brewers	2–6	Bones	Gross (5–4)	—	10,685	35–22
58	June 5	@ Brewers	4–6	McDonald	Hill (7–4)	Fetters	11,276	35–23
59	June 7	Blue Jays	10–7	Pavlik (8–1)	Janzen	Henneman (17)	40,046	36–23
60	June 8	Blue Jays	2–0	Oliver (5–2)	Guzman	—	43,439	37–23
61	June 9	Blue Jays	8–6	Witt (6–4)	Hanson	Henneman (18)	41,605	38–23
62	June 10	Brewers	8–3	Gross (6–4)	Givens	—	43,275	39–23
63	June 11	Brewers	4–14	McDonald	Hill (7–5)	Garcia	33,519	39–24
64	June 12	Brewers	13–6	Pavlik (9–1)	Miranda	—	34,842	40–24
65	June 13	@ Red Sox	7–8 (10)	Slocumb	Henneman (0–4)	—	32,645	40–25
66	June 14	@ Red Sox	3–4	Stanton	Witt (6–5)	—	29,689	40–26
67	June 15	@ Red Sox	13–3	Gross (7–4)	Wakefield	—	33,186	41–26
68	June 16	@ Red Sox	9–10	Hudson	Henneman (0–5)	—	30,461	41–27
69	June 17	@ Orioles	1–1 (6)			—	45,581	41–27
70	June 18	@ Orioles	7–0	Oliver (6–2)	Mercker	—	47,318	42–27
71	June 19	@ Orioles	3–2	Witt (7–5)	Mussina	Russell (1)	45,581	43–27
72	June 20	@ Orioles	2–3	Wells	Gross (7–5)	Myers	21,748	43–28
73	June 21	Red Sox	14–4	Hill (8–5)	Minchey	—	40,726	44–28
74	June 22	Red Sox	8–2	Pavlik (10–1)	Wakefield	—	46,444	45–28
75	June 23	Red Sox	4–6	Stanton	Cook (3–1)	Slocumb	39,399	45–29
76	June 24	Orioles	3–8	Mussina	Witt (7–6)	—	39,701	45–30
77	June 25	Orioles	5–2	Gross (8–5)	Wells	Henneman (19)	41,685	46–30
78	June 26	Orioles	6–5	Cook (4–1)	Orosco	Henneman (20)	38,984	47–30
79	June 28	@ Mariners	8–19	Carmona	Pavlik (10–2)	—	34,413	47–31
80	June 29	@ Mariners	9–5	Oliver (7–2)	Meacham	—	37,556	48–31
81	June 30	@ Mariners	3–4	Hitchcock	Witt (7–7)	Charlton	33,392	48–32

July: 13–14 (Home: 6–7; Away: 7–7)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
82	July 1	@ Angels	8–6	Gross (9–5)	Langston	Henneman (21)	19,754	49–32
83	July 2	@ Angels	5–6	James	Henneman (0–6)	—	19,055	49–33
84	July 3	@ Angels	8–1	Pavlik (11–2)	Finley	—	45,979	50–33
85	July 4	Mariners	5–9	Carmona	Henneman (0–7)	—	46,668	50–34
86	July 5	Mariners	3–6	Hitchcock	Witt (7–8)	—	46,397	50–35
87	July 6	Mariners	5–9	Wagner	Gross (9–6)	—	46,458	50–36
88	July 7	Mariners	8–3	Hill (9–5)	Wells	—	36,933	51–36
89	July 11	@ Athletics	3–8	Chouinard	Oliver (7–3)	—	13,437	51–37
90	July 12	@ Athletics	8–4 (10)	Russell (2–1)	Taylor	—	12,074	52–37
91	July 13	@ Athletics	8–1	Pavlik (12–2)	Wengert	—	16,792	53–37
92	July 14	@ Athletics	1–9	Johns	Gross (9–7)	—	20,704	53–38
93	July 15	Angels	7–10	Schmidt	Brandenburg (1–1)	Percival	45,655	53–39
94	July 16	Angels	6–2	Oliver (8–3)	Abbott	Russell (2)	34,680	54–39
95	July 17	Angels	7–3	Hill (10–5)	Finley	—	44,220	55–39
96	July 18	Athletics	4–5 (11)	Reyes	Brandenburg (1–2)	Van Poppel	28,585	55–40
97	July 19	Athletics	6–9	Reyes	Helling (1–2)	Taylor	37,455	55–41
98	July 20	Athletics	8–4	Witt (8–8)	Van Poppel	—	46,052	56–41
99	July 21	Athletics	8–11	Groom	Brandenburg (1–3)	Mohler	36,039	56–42
100	July 22	@ Yankees	6–1	Hill (11–5)	Rogers	—	30,767	57–42
101	July 23	@ Yankees	0–6	Gooden	Pavlik (12–3)	—	22,814	57–43
102	July 24	@ Yankees	2–4	Pettitte	Alberro (0–1)	Wetteland	35,308	57–44
103	July 25	@ White Sox	4–3 (12)	Russell (3–1)	Keyser	Henneman (22)	19,524	58–44
104	July 26	@ White Sox	2–6	Alvarez	Oliver (8–4)	—	21,398	58–45
105	July 27	@ White Sox	6–4 (10)	Heredia (2–3)	Simas	Vosberg (6)	22,629	59–45
106	July 28	@ White Sox	1–5	Fernandez	Pavlik (12–4)	—	20,902	59–46
107	July 30	Yankees	15–2	Witt (9–8)	Pettitte	—	39,637	60–46
108	July 31	Yankees	9–2	Oliver (9–4)	Key	—	30,645	61–46

August: 16–12 (Home: 8–5; Away: 8–7)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
109	August 1	Yankees	5–6	Rogers	Hill (11–6)	Wetteland	34,855	61–47
110	August 2	White Sox	0–9	Fernandez	Pavlik (12–5)	—	36,299	61–48
111	August 3	White Sox	9–11	Hernandez	Russell (3–2)	—	46,481	61–49
112	August 4	White Sox	9–5	Witt (10–8)	Baldwin	—	32,854	62–49
113	August 5	White Sox	5–15	Alvarez	Oliver (9–5)	—	29,973	62–50
114	August 6	@ Tigers	4–2	Hill (12–6)	Lira	Henneman (23)	10,931	63–50
115	August 7	@ Tigers	2–4	Cummings	Pavlik (12–6)	Myers	10,297	63–51
116	August 8	@ Tigers	2–3	Olivares	Heredia (2–4)	—	10,995	63–52
117	August 9	@ Blue Jays	5–4	Witt (11–8)	Quantrill	Henneman (24)	33,535	64–52
118	August 10	@ Blue Jays	12–1	Oliver (10–5)	Guzman	—	34,109	65–52
119	August 11	@ Blue Jays	6–0	Burkett (1–0)	Hanson	—	32,162	66–52
120	August 12	Tigers	7–0	Hill (13–6)	Williams	—	25,210	67–52
121	August 13	Tigers	6–2	Pavlik (13–6)	Olivares	—	31,331	68–52
122	August 14	Tigers	5–4	Witt (12–8)	Van Poppel	Henneman (25)	33,942	69–52
123	August 16	Royals	5–3	Burkett (2–0)	Haney	Henneman (26)	32,053	70–52
124	August 17	Royals	1–4	Belcher	Hill (13–7)	—	41,855	70–53
125	August 18	Royals	10–3	Gross (10–7)	Appier	—	30,480	71–53
126	August 19	@ Indians	10–3	Pavlik (14–6)	McDowell	—	42,393	72–53
127	August 20	@ Indians	4–10	Lopez	Witt (12–9)	—	42,370	72–54
128	August 21	@ Indians	10–8 (10)	Vosberg (1–0)	Tavarez	—	42,345	73–54
129	August 22	@ Twins	11–2	Hill (14–7)	Robertson	—	17,342	74–54
130	August 23	@ Twins	2–9	Aguilera	Oliver (10–6)	—	16,166	74–55
131	August 24	@ Twins	5–6	Rodriguez	Pavlik (14–7)	Trombley	16,648	74–56
132	August 25	@ Twins	13–2	Witt (13–9)	Miller	—	14,818	75–56
133	August 27	@ Royals	3–4 (10)	Montgomery	Russell (3–3)	—	12,907	75–57
134	August 28	@ Royals	3–4 (12)	Huisman	Gross (10–8)	—	12,695	75–58
135	August 30	Indians	5–3	Pavlik (15–7)	Ogea	Russell (3)	40,383	76–58
136	August 31	Indians	6–3	Oliver (11–6)	McDowell	Vosberg (7)	46,319	77–58

September: 13–14 (Home: 5–7; Away: 8–7)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
137	September 1	Indians	2–8	Nagy	Burkett (2–1)	—	46,084	77–59
138	September 2	Twins	4–6	Aguilera	Hill (14–8)	Guardado	24,786	77–60
139	September 3	Twins	9–7	Witt (14–9)	Rodriguez	Henneman (27)	28,401	78–60
140	September 4	Twins	6–7	Robertson	Heredia (2–5)	Trombley	29,744	78–61
141	September 6	@ Brewers	7–3	Burkett (3–1)	Eldred	—	16,714	79–61
142	September 7	@ Brewers	2–1	Hill (15–8)	McDonald	Henneman (28)	19,110	80–61
143	September 8	@ Brewers	7–1	Witt (15–9)	Florie	—	17,542	81–61
144	September 9	@ Blue Jays	4–3	Gross (11–8)	Hentgen	Henneman (29)	25,825	82–61
145	September 10	@ Blue Jays	11–8	Oliver (12–6)	Williams	Henneman (30)	26,286	83–61
146	September 11	@ Blue Jays	3–8	Andujar	Vosberg (1–1)	—	27,262	83–62
147	September 12	Brewers	4–15	McDonald	Hill (15–9)	—	41,303	83–63
148	September 13	Brewers	3–6	D'Amico	Witt (15–10)	Fetters	39,235	83–64
149	September 14	Brewers	6–8	Karl	Pavlik (15–8)	Fetters	45,901	83–65
150	September 15	Brewers	6–2	Oliver (13–6)	Garcia	Vosberg (8)	45,941	84–65
151	September 16	@ Mariners	0–6	Moyer	Burkett (3–2)	—	50,544	84–66
152	September 17	@ Mariners	2–5	Mulholland	Hill (15–10)	Ayala	32,279	84–67
153	September 18	@ Mariners	2–5	Hitchcock	Witt (15–11)	Charlton	35,162	84–68
154	September 19	@ Mariners	6–7	Davis	Cook (4–2)	Charlton	39,769	84–69
155	September 20	@ Angels	5–6 (10)	McElroy	Stanton (0–1)	—	18,860	84–70
156	September 21	@ Angels	7–1	Burkett (4–2)	Abbott	—	24,104	85–70
157	September 22	@ Angels	4–1	Hill (16–10)	Dickson	—	17,522	86–70
158	September 23	@ Athletics	3–5	Wasdin	Witt (15–12)	Taylor	10,164	86–71
159	September 24	@ Athletics	7–3	Cook (5–2)	Small	—	9,694	87–71
160	September 26	Angels	6–5	Burkett (5–2)	Abbott	Henneman (31)	33,895	88–71
161	September 27	Angels	3–4 (15)	Harris	Whiteside (0–1)	Gohr	46,764	88–72
162	September 28	Angels	4–3	Oliver (14–6)	Finley	Heredia (1)	45,651	89–72
163	September 29	Angels	4–3	Witt (16–12)	Springer	—	45,434	90–72

Legend: = Win = Loss = Tie
Bold = Rangers team member

Postseason Game log

1996 Postseason game log: 1–3 (Home: 0–2; Away: 1–1)

AL Division Series vs. New York Yankees 1–3 (Home: 0–2; Away: 1–1)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Time of Game	Attendance	Series	Box/ Streak
1	October 1	@ Yankees	W 6–2	Burkett (1–0)	Cone (0–1)	–	2:50	57,205	TEX 1–0	W1
2	October 2	@ Yankees	L 4–5 (12)	Boehringer (1–0)	Stanton (0–1)	–	4:25	57,156	Tied 1–1	L1
3	October 4	Yankees	L 2–3	Nelson (1–0)	Oliver (0–1)	Wetteland (1)	3:09	50,860	NYY 2–1	L2
4	October 5	Yankees	L 4–6	Weathers (1–0)	Pavlik (0–1)	Wetteland (2)	3:57	50,066	NYY 3–1	L3

Legend: = Win = Postponement
Bold = Rangers team member

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	82	40	41	0.494	419	391

Composite Box

Caption text
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	R	H	E
Opponents	108	94	85	82	95	99	86	60	73	10	4	1	0	0	2	799	1569	25
Rangers	131	102	124	96	119	104	103	98	30	16	0	1	0	0	1	928	1622	87

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	Iván Rodríguez	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 González	134	541	170	.314	47	144
DH	Mickey Tettleton	143	491	121	.246	24	83

Other batters

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

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Warren Newson	91	235	60	.255	10	31
Damon Buford	90	145	41	.283	6	20
Rene Gonzales	51	92	20	.217	2	5
Dave Valle	42	86	26	.302	3	17
Lee Stevens	27	78	18	.231	3	12
Kurt Stillwell	46	77	21	.273	1	4
Lou Frazier	30	50	13	.260	0	5
Craig Worthington	13	19	3	.158	1	4
Jack Voigt	5	9	1	.111	0	0
Luis Ortiz	3	7	2	.286	1	1
Rikkert Faneyte	8	5	1	.200	0	1
Benji Gil	7	5	2	.400	0	1
Kevin Brown	3	4	0	.000	0	1

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Ken Hill	35	250.2	16	10	3.63	170
Roger Pavlik	34	201.0	15	8	5.19	127
Bobby Witt	33	199.2	16	12	5.41	157
Darren Oliver	30	173.2	14	6	4.66	112
Kevin Gross	28	129.1	11	8	5.22	78
John Burkett	10	68.2	5	2	4.06	47

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Rick Helling	6	20.1	1	2	7.52	16
José Alberro	5	9.1	0	1	5.79	2

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Mike Henneman	49	0	7	31	5.79	34
Dennis Cook	60	5	2	0	4.09	64
Jeff Russell	55	3	3	3	3.38	23
Ed Vosberg	52	1	1	8	3.27	32
Gil Heredia	44	2	5	1	5.89	43
Mark Brandenburg	26	1	3	0	3.21	37
Mike Stanton	22	0	1	0	3.22	14
Matt Whiteside	14	0	1	0	6.68	15
Danny Patterson	7	0	0	0	0.00	5

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
^ "Kevin Elster Stats".
^ 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] "Kevin Elster Stats".

[5] Jack Voigt at Baseball Reference

[6] Travis Hafner at Baseball Reference

[7] Mike Stanton at Baseball Reference

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