The 2008 season marked a real improvement for the Texas Rangers, who jumped from last place in the AL West in 2007 to second place in 2008. If the Rangers want to make it to the playoffs in 2009, they’ll need to improve their pitching, and new pitching coach Mike Maddox is determined to do just that. All-Star Michael Young is moving to third base and the team is hoping for promising young shortstop Elvis Andrus to win a starting job, but they hedged their bets by signing veteran Omar Vizquel. Will the changes be enough to catapult the Rangers deep into the playoffs? Watch it all go down live at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington with Texas Rangers tickets from Coast to Coast!

From Washington to Texas

The Texas Rangers were created in 1972 when the second incarnation of the Washington Senators was moved to Arlington, Texas. The Senators brought their losing ways with them to Texas and the Rangers struggled to become respectable, finishing under .500 more often than not. Things slowly began to change by the late 1980’s with the addition of Nolan Ryan, and the Rangers started to put together competitive teams. Ryan came over from across the state in Houston and made an immediate impact by almost tossing a no hitter in his first start and racking up 15 strikeouts. Ryan would go on to throw 2 more no hitters, lead the league twice more in strikeouts, and reach both 300 wins and 5,000 strikeouts with the Rangers. He is now working as a special assistant to the team.