| 2011 Texas Rangers | ||
|---|---|---|
| American League Champions American League West Champions | ||
| League | American League | |
| Division | West | |
| Ballpark | Rangers Ballpark in Arlington | |
| City | Arlington, Texas | |
| Record | 96–66 (.593) | |
| Divisional place | 1st | |
| Owners | Rangers Baseball Express (Chuck Greenberg until March 2011, Nolan Ryan, Ray Davis and Bob R. Simpson) | |
| General managers | Jon Daniels | |
| Managers | Ron Washington | |
| Television | Fox Sports Southwest KTXA (Dave Barnett, Tom Grieve, John Rhadigan) | |
| Radio | ESPN Radio (103.3 FM) (English) (Eric Nadel, Steve Busby, Bryan Dolgin, Dave Barnett) ESPN Deportes (1540 AM) (Spanish) (Eleno Orlenas, Jerry Romo) | |
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The Texas Rangers' 2011 season was the 51st season in the overall history of the franchise and the 40th since the team relocated to Arlington, Texas. At the season outset, the Rangers were the defending American League champions.
Despite playing during one of the hottest summers on record in Texas, the Rangers claimed their second consecutive American League West title (fifth overall) and set franchise records for wins (96 wins and a .593 winning percentage, one win better than the previous record set in 1999) and home attendance (2,946,949 fans at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, breaking the old record set in 1997). Another year of improvement from the starting pitching and defense would give the Rangers the most shutouts in the American League, and they trailed the Philadelphia Phillies by only two for the Major League Baseball (MLB) lead. All five members of the opening day starting rotation would stay in the rotation for the entire year. C. J. Wilson tied for the league lead in starts with 34 while Derek Holland tied for second in shutouts with four, tied for first in the American League, and each pitcher would have at least 13 wins. The offense, always considered a strong point for the team, would also have another good year with three players getting 30+ home runs, and Ian Kinsler completing his second 30–30 season.
The Rangers won their second straight AL West title, and beat the Tampa Bay Rays in four games and the Detroit Tigers in six to advance to the World Series. They lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games, their second straight defeat in the Fall Classic, becoming the first team to lose back-to-back World Series since the Atlanta Braves in 1991 and 1992. The World Series was notable for the Rangers being one strike away from winning the series twice in Game 6 with a two-run lead each time before ultimately losing to the Cardinals 10–9 in an 11-inning thriller. They would go on to lose Game 7 by a score of 6–2.