1998 Texas Rangers season

1998 Texas Rangers
1998 Texas Rangers
1998 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	88–74 (.543)
Divisional place	1st
Other information
Owner(s)	Tom Hicks
General manager(s)	Doug Melvin
Manager(s)	Johnny Oates
Local television	KXTX-TV; KXAS-TV; Fox Sports Southwest; (Tom Grieve, Bill Jones)
Local radio	KRLD; (Eric Nadel, Vince Cotroneo); KMRT; (Luis Mayoral, Josue Perez)
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The 1998 Texas Rangers season involved the Rangers finishing 1st in the American League west with a record of 88 wins and 74 losses. It would be the team's second post-season appearance, but the team would be swept 3-0 by the New York Yankees.

Offseason

November 6, 1997: Jim Leyritz and Damon Buford were traded by the Rangers to the Boston Red Sox for Mark Brandenburg, Bill Haselman, and Aaron Sele.^[1]
November 20, 1997: Scott Sheldon was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.^[2]
December 7, 1997: Scott Bailes was signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers.^[3]
December 8, 1997: Kevin Elster was signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers.^[4]
December 9, 1997: Roberto Kelly was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.^[5]
December 15, 1997: Scott Podsednik was drafted by the Rangers from the Florida Marlins in the 1997 rule 5 draft.^[6]
December 23, 1997: Scott Cooper was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.^[7]
March 14, 1998: Kevin Brown was traded by the Rangers to the Toronto Blue Jays for Tim Crabtree.^[8]

Regular season

During the season, Rick Helling would be the last pitcher to win at least 20 games in one season for the Rangers in the decade.^[9]

Season standings

v t e AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Texas Rangers	88	74	0.543	—	48–33	40–41
Anaheim Angels	85	77	0.525	3	42–39	43–38
Seattle Mariners	76	85	0.472	11½	42–39	34–46
Oakland Athletics	74	88	0.457	14	39–42	35–46

Record vs. opponents

1998 American League Records v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	ANA	BAL	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TB	TEX	TOR	NL
Anaheim	—	5–6	6–5	5–6	4–7	8–3	6–5	6–5	6–5	5–7	9–3	6–5	5–7	4–7	10–6
Baltimore	6–5	—	6–6	2–9	5–6	10–1	5–6	7–3	3–9	8–3	6–5	5–7	6–5	5–7	5–11
Boston	5–6	6–6	—	5–6	8–3	5–5	8–3	5–6	5–7	9–2	7–4	9–3	6–5	5–7	9–7
Chicago	6–5	9–2	6–5	—	6–6	6–6	8–4	6–6	4–7	4–7	4–7	5–6	5–6	4–6–1	7–9
Cleveland	7–4	6–5	3–8	6–6	—	9–3	8–4	6–6	4–7	3–8	9–2	7–3	4–7	7–4	10–6
Detroit	3–8	1–10	5–5	6–6	3–9	—	6–6	8–4	3–8	7–4	3–8	5–6	3–8	5–6	7–9
Kansas City	5–6	6–5	3–8	4–8	4–8	6–6	—	7–5	0–10	7–4	4–6	8–3	3–8	6–5	9–7
Minnesota	5–6	3–7	6–5	6–6	6–6	4–8	5–7	—	4–7	4–7	2–9	7–4	7–4	4–7	7–9
New York	5–6	9–3	7–5	7–4	7–4	8–3	10–0	7–4	—	8–3	8–3	11–1	8–3	6–6	13–3
Oakland	7–5	3–8	2–9	7–4	8–3	4–7	4–7	7–4	3–8	—	5–7	5–6	6–6	5–6	8–8
Seattle	3–9	5–6	4–7	7–4	2–9	8–3	6–4	9–2	3–8	7–5	—	6–5	5–7	4–7	7–9
Tampa Bay	5–6	7–5	3–9	6–5	3–7	6–5	3–8	4–7	1–11	6–5	5–6	—	4–7	5–7	5–11
Texas	7–5	5–6	5–6	6–5	7–4	8–3	8–3	4–7	3–8	6–6	7–5	7–4	—	7–4	8–8
Toronto	7–4	7–5	7–5	6–4–1	4–7	6–5	5–6	7–4	6–6	6–5	7–4	7–5	4–7	—	9–7

Notable transactions

July 17, 1998: Todd Van Poppel and Warren Morris were traded by the Rangers to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Esteban Loaiza.^[10]
July 31, 1998: Kevin Elster was released by the Texas Rangers.^[4]
August 26, 1998: Greg Cadaret was selected off waivers by the Rangers from the Anaheim Angels.^[11]

Roster

1998 Texas Rangers

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

37 Bill Haselman
7 Iván Rodríguez

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

14 Rob Sasser
18 Chris Tremie

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)

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos= Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; Slg. = Slugging Average; SB = Stolen bases

Pos	Player	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Avg.	Slg.	SB
C	Iván Rodríguez	145	579	88	186	21	91	.321	.513	9
1B	Will Clark	149	554	98	169	23	102	.305	.507	1
2B	Mark McLemore	126	461	79	114	5	53	.247	.317	12
3B	Fernando Tatís	95	330	41	89	3	32	.270	.442	6
SS	Kevin Elster	84	297	33	69	8	37	.232	.354	0
LF	Rusty Greer	155	598	107	183	16	108	.306	.405	2
CF	Tom Goodwin	154	520	102	151	2	33	.290	.338	38
RF	Juan González	154	606	110	193	45	157	.318	.630	2
DH	Lee Stevens	120	344	52	91	20	59	.265	.512	0

^[12]

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
Luis Alicea	101	259	71	.274	6	83
Roberto Kelly	75	257	83	.323	16	46
Mike Simms	86	186	55	.296	16	46
Royce Clayton	52	186	53	.285	5	24
Todd Zeile	52	180	47	.261	6	28
Domingo Cedeño	61	141	37	.262	2	21
Bill Haselman	40	105	33	.314	6	17
Warren Newson	10	21	4	.190	0	2
Scott Sheldon	7	16	2	.125	0	1
Milt Cuyler	7	6	3	.500	1	3
Chris Tremie	2	3	1	.333	0	0
Rob Sasser	1	1	0	.000	0	0

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
Rick Helling	33	216.1	20	7	4.41	164
Aaron Sele	33	212.2	19	11	4.23	167
John Burkett	32	195.0	9	13	5.68	131
Darren Oliver	19	103.1	6	7	6.53	58
Esteban Loaiza	14	79.1	3	6	5.90	55
Bobby Witt	14	69.1	5	4	7.66	30
Todd Stottlemyre	10	60.1	5	4	4.33	57
Todd Van Poppel	4	19.1	1	2	8.84	10
Matt Perisho	2	5.0	0	2	27.00	2
Jonathan Johnson	1	4.1	0	0	8.31	3

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

N/A

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
John Wetteland	63	3	1	42	2.03	72
Eric Gunderson	68	0	3	0	5.19	41
Tim Crabtree	64	6	1	0	3.59	60
Danny Patterson	56	2	5	2	4.45	33
Xavier Hernandez	46	6	6	1	3.57	41
Scott Bailes	46	1	0	0	6.47	30
Al Levine	30	0	1	0	4.50	19
Greg Cadaret	11	0	0	0	4.70	5
Tony Fossas	10	1	0	0	0.00	7
Roger Pavlik	5	1	1	1	3.86	8
Julio Santana	3	0	0	0	8.44	1

New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers

Game 1

September 29 at Yankee Stadium (New York Yankees)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Texas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
New York	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	6	0
W: David Wells (1-0) L: Todd Stottlemyre (0-1) S: Mariano Rivera (1)

Game 2

September 30 at Yankee Stadium (New York Yankees)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Texas	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
New York	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	8	0
W: Andy Pettitte (1-0) L: Rick Helling (0-1) S: Mariano Rivera (2)
HR: NYY – Shane Spencer, Scott Brosius

Game 3

October 2 at The Ballpark in Arlington (Texas Rangers)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	4	9	1
Texas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
W: David Cone (1-0) L: Aaron Sele (0-1)
HR: NYY – Shane Spencer, Paul O'Neill

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Oklahoma RedHawks	Pacific Coast League	Greg Biagini
AA	Tulsa Drillers	Texas League	Bobby Jones
A	Charlotte Rangers	Florida State League	Jim Byrd
A	Savannah Sand Gnats	South Atlantic League	Paul Carey
Rookie	Pulaski Rangers	Appalachian League	Bruce Crabbe
Rookie	GCL Rangers	Gulf Coast League	Darryl Kennedy

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Tulsa, GCL Rangers

References

^ Jim Leyritz page at Baseball Reference
^ Scott Sheldon page at Baseball Reference
^ "Scott Bailes Stats".
^ ^a ^b "Kevin Elster Stats".
^ Roberto Kelly page at Baseball Reference
^ Scott Podsednik page at Baseball Reference
^ Scott Cooper page at Baseball Reference
^ Tim Crabtree page at Baseball Reference
^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.99, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
^ Todd Van Poppel page at Baseball Reference
^ Greg Cadaret page at Baseball Reference
^ "1998 Seattle Mariners Statistics".

1998 Texas Rangers team page at Baseball Reference
1998 Texas Rangers team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
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] Jim Leyritz page at Baseball Reference

[2] Scott Sheldon page at Baseball Reference

[3] "Scott Bailes Stats".

[baseball-reference.com-4] "Kevin Elster Stats".

[5] Roberto Kelly page at Baseball Reference

[6] Scott Podsednik page at Baseball Reference

[7] Scott Cooper page at Baseball Reference

[8] Tim Crabtree page at Baseball Reference

[9] Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.99, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0

[10] Todd Van Poppel page at Baseball Reference

[11] Greg Cadaret page at Baseball Reference

[12] "1998 Seattle Mariners Statistics".

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v t e American League West champions
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