Rangers: A painful look back at the history of Rangers pitching

Part Five: It Can Get Worse?

Believe it or not, there are Texas Rangers besides Nolan Ryan. When Ryan left, those players were searching for answers on their pitching staff. The 1994 Texas Rangers had a new logo and a new stadium, The Ballpark in Arlington.

Something strange happened that year; the Rangers actually won the AL West! After over 20 years in Arlington and over 30 years in existence, they had finally won a division crown.  There was just one problem: the league was on strike and the season was cut short, effectively making any records irrelevant. Still, it was a season to be proud of. In typical Rangers fashion, they did it with a sub-.500 record. The Rangers pitching staff combined as one of the worst squads in the whole league.

The rest of the 90s were fairly successful for the Rangers. They made the postseason for the first three times ever in 1996, 1998, and 1999, but failed to win a single series. None of this success was thanks to the Rangers pitchers, who combined for ERAs of 4.99 and 5.07 in 1998 and 1999, respectively.

Texas Rangers star pitcher Bobby Witt was back on the team and hit a home run in 1997 against the Los Angeles Dodgers in only the Rangers seventh interleague game. This would give him the distinction as the first and only Rangers pitcher to do so until Yu Darvish went deep in 2016.

The 1990s decade was a strange one for the Rangers. When the team had good pitching, it floundered in the standings, whereas horrid pitching brought the team division crowns. Kinda sounds like today. Good pitching or not, the Rangers were ready to charge into the 2000s with high expectations.