# 1998 Texas Rangers season

The 1998 Texas Rangers season involved the Rangers finishing first in the American League West with a record of 88 wins and 74 losses. It was the team's second post-season appearance, the first having been in 1996, but the team was eliminated in a three-game sweep by the New York Yankees in the Division Series.

## 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.
* November 20, 1997: Scott Sheldon was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.
* December 7, 1997: Scott Bailes was signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers.
* December 8, 1997: Kevin Elster was signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers.
* December 9, 1997: Roberto Kelly was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.
* December 15, 1997: Scott Podsednik was drafted by the Rangers from the Florida Marlins in the 1997 rule 5 draft.
* December 23, 1997: Scott Cooper was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.
* March 14, 1998: Kevin Brown was traded by the Rangers to the Toronto Blue Jays for Tim Crabtree.

## Regular season

During the season, Rick Helling became the final pitcher to win at least 20 games in one season for the Rangers during the 1990s.

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Texas Rangers | 88 | 74 | .543 | — | 48‍–‍33 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Anaheim Angels | 85 | 77 | .525 | 3 | 42‍–‍39 | 43‍–‍38 |
| Seattle Mariners | 76 | 85 | .472 | 11½ | 42‍–‍39 | 34‍–‍46 |
| Oakland Athletics | 74 | 88 | .457 | 14 | 39‍–‍42 | 35‍–‍46 |

### Record vs. opponents

1998 American League recordvte Sources: :
| 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.
* July 31, 1998: Kevin Elster was released by the Texas Rangers.
* August 26, 1998: Greg Cadaret was selected off waivers by the Rangers from the Anaheim Angels.

### Roster
## 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 |

#### 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 |

#### 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

* Juan González, AL MVP
* Juan González, Silver Slugger Award
* Iván Rodríguez, C, Gold Glove
* Iván Rodríguez, Silver Slugger Award
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