1988 Texas Rangers season

1988 Texas Rangers
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1961) Western Division (since 1972)
Location
Arlington Stadium (since 1972) Arlington, Texas (since 1972)
Other information
Owner(s)	Eddie Chiles
General manager(s)	Tom Grieve
Manager(s)	Bobby Valentine
Local television	KTVT (Bob Carpenter, Steve Busby) HSE (Bob Carpenter, Norm Hitzges, Merle Harmon)
Local radio	WBAP (Eric Nadel, Mark Holtz )
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The Texas Rangers 1988 season involved the Rangers finishing 6th in the American League west with a record of 70 wins and 91 losses.

Offseason[]

• December 13, 1987: Bárbaro Garbey was signed as a Free Agent with the Texas Rangers.^[1]
• December 21, 1987: Greg A. Harris was released by the Texas Rangers.^[2]
• March 25, 1988: Mike Loynd was traded by the Rangers to the Houston Astros for Robbie Wine.^[3]

Regular season[]

Opening Day starters[]

• Jerry Browne
• Steve Buechele
• Scott Fletcher
• Charlie Hough
• Pete Incaviglia
• Oddibe McDowell
• Pete O'Brien
• Larry Parrish
• Geno Petralli
• Rubén Sierra^[4]

Season standings[]

v t AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	104	58	0.642	—	54–27	50–31
Minnesota Twins	91	71	0.562	13	47–34	44–37
Kansas City Royals	84	77	0.522	19½	44–36	40–41
California Angels	75	87	0.463	29	35–46	40–41
Chicago White Sox	71	90	0.441	32½	40–41	31–49
Texas Rangers	70	91	0.435	33½	38–43	32–48
Seattle Mariners	68	93	0.422	35½	37–44	31–49

Record vs. opponents[]

1988 American League Records v t Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	SEA	TEX	TOR
Baltimore	—	4–9	5–7	4–7	4–9	5–8	0–12	4–9	3–9	3–10	4–8	7–5	6–6	5–8
Boston	9–4	—	8–4	7–5	8–5	6–7	6–6	10–3	7–5	9–4	3–9	6–6	8–4	2–11
California	7–5	4–8	—	9–4	8–4	5–7	5–8	3–9	4–9	6–6	4–9	6–7	8–5	6–6
Chicago	7–4	5–7	4–9	—	3–9	3–9	7–6	6–6	4–9	3–9	5–8	9–4	8–5	7–5
Cleveland	9–4	5–8	4–8	9–3	—	4–9	6–6	9–4	5–7	6–7	4–8	5–7	6–6	6–7
Detroit	8–5	7–6	7–5	9–3	9–4	—	8–4	5–8	1–11	8–5	4–8	9–3	8–4	5–8
Kansas City	12–0	6–6	8–5	6–7	6–6	4–8	—	3–9	7–6	6–6	8–5	7–5	7–6	4–8
Milwaukee	9–4	3–10	9–3	6–6	4–9	8–5	9–3	—	7–5	6–7	3–9	8–4	8–4	7–6
Minnesota	9–3	5–7	9–4	9–4	7–5	11–1	6–7	5–7	—	3–9	5–8	8–5	7–6	7–5
New York	10–3	4–9	6–6	9–3	7–6	5–8	6–6	7–6	9–3	—	6–6	5–7	5–6	6–7
Oakland	8–4	9–3	9–4	8–5	8–4	8–4	5–8	9–3	8–5	6–6	—	9–4	8–5	9–3
Seattle	5–7	6–6	7–6	4–9	7–5	3–9	5–7	4–8	5–8	7–5	4–9	—	6–7	5–7
Texas	6–6	4–8	5–8	5–8	6–6	4–8	6–7	4–8	6–7	6–5	5–8	7–6	—	6–6
Toronto	8–5	11–2	6–6	5–7	7–6	8–5	8–4	6–7	5–7	7–6	3–9	7–5	6–6	—

Notable transactions[]

• April 4, 1988: Guy Hoffman was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.^[5]
• July 21, 1988: Jim Sundberg was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.^[6]
• July 27, 1988: Iván Rodríguez was signed by the Rangers as an amateur free agent.^[7]
• August 30, 1988: Dale Mohorcic was traded by the Rangers to the New York Yankees for Cecilio Guante.^[8]
• September 1, 1988: Tom O'Malley was traded by the Rangers to the Montreal Expos for a player to be named later. The Expos completed the deal by sending Jack Daugherty to the Rangers on September 13.^[9]

Roster[]

1988 Texas Rangers roster
Roster
Pitchers 41 Kevin Brown 37 José Cecena 46 Tony Fossas 51 Cecilio Guante 23 José Guzmán 32 Ray Hayward 45 Dwayne Henry 42 Guy Hoffman 49 Charlie Hough 30 Mike Jeffcoat 39 Paul Kilgus 48 Scott May 38 Craig McMurtry 34 Dale Mohorcic 40 Jeff Russell 43 Ed Vande Berg 54 DeWayne Vaughn 28 Mitch Williams 34 Steve Wilson 36 Bobby Witt		Catchers  7 Chad Kreuter 12 Geno Petralli 13 Larry See  5 Mike Stanley 10 Jim Sundberg Infielders  8 Jerry Browne 22 Steve Buechele  1 Scott Fletcher 20 Jeff Kunkel  9 Pete O'Brien 19 Curtis Wilkerson		Outfielders 33 Bob Brower  6 Cecil Espy 17 Bárbaro Garbey 29 Pete Incaviglia 24 Steve Kemp  0 Oddibe McDowell 47 Kevin Reimer 21 Rubén Sierra 27 Jim Steels Other batters 15 Larry Parrish		Manager  2 Bobby Valentine Coaches 52 Dick Egan 35 Tom House 10 Art Howe 14 Davey Lopes 26 Dave Oliver 31 Tom Robson

Game log[]

1988 Game Log 70–91 (Home: 38–43; Away: 32–48)
April: 8–13 (Home: 4–7; Away: 4–6) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak 1 April 4 Indians 4–3 1–0 W1 2 April 6 Indians 1–5 1–1 L1 3 April 7 Indians 1–4 1–2 L2 13 April 19 @ Indians 3–0 6–7 W1 14 April 20 @ Indians 1–2 6–8 L1
May: 17–11 (Home: 11–5; Away: 6–6) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak
June: 12–15 (Home: 4–7; Away: 6–8) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak
July: 9–18 (Home: 4–9; Away: 5–9) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak
August: 14–14 (Home: 8–7; Away: 6–7) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak 106 August 5 Indians 8–4 47–59 W1 107 August 6 Indians 3–5 47–60 L1 108 August 7 Indians 2–0 48–60 W1 112 August 11 @ Indians 5–4 50–62 W1 113 August 12 @ Indians 3–6 50–63 L1 114 August 13 @ Indians 12–3 51–63 W1 115 August 14 @ Indians 0–3 51–64 L1
September: 9–17 (Home: 5–8; Away: 4–9) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak
October: 1–1 (Home: 0–0; Away: 1–1) # Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Record Streak
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Postponement Bold = Rangers team member

Player stats[]

Batting[]

Starters by position[]

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Geno Petralli	129	351	99	.282	7	36
1B	Pete O'Brien	156	547	149	.272	16	71
2B	Curt Wilkerson	117	338	99	.293	0	28
SS	Scott Fletcher	140	515	142	.276	0	47
3B	Steve Buechele	155	503	126	.250	16	58
LF	Pete Incaviglia	116	418	104	.249	22	54
CF	Oddibe McDowell	120	437	108	.247	6	37
RF	Rubén Sierra	156	615	156	.254	23	91
DH	Larry Parrish	68	248	47	.190	7	26

Other batters[]

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Cecil Espy	123	347	86	.248	2	39
Mike Stanley	94	249	57	.229	3	27
Jerry Browne	73	214	49	.229	1	17
Bob Brower	82	201	45	.224	1	11
Jeff Kunkel	55	154	35	.227	2	15
Jim Sundberg	38	91	26	.286	4	13
Barbaro Garbey	30	62	12	.194	0	5
Jim Steels	36	53	10	.189	0	5
Chad Kreuter	16	51	14	.275	1	5
Steve Kemp	16	36	8	.222	0	2
Kevin Reimer	12	25	3	.120	1	2
Larry See	13	23	3	.130	0	0

Pitching[]

Starting pitchers[]

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Charlie Hough	34	252	15	16	3.32	174
José Guzmán	30	206.2	11	13	3.70	157
Paul Kilgus	32	203.1	12	15	4.16	88
Jeff Russell	34	188.2	10	9	3.82	88
Bobby Witt	22	174.1	8	10	3.92	148
Ray Hayward	12	62.2	4	6	5.46	37
Kevin Brown	4	23.1	1	1	4.24	12

Other pitchers[]

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Mike Jeffcoat	5	10	0	2	11.70	5
Scott May	3	7.1	0	0	8.59	4

Relief pitchers[]

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Mitch Williams	67	2	7	18	4.63	61
Dale Mohorcic	43	2	6	5	4.85	25
Craig McMurtry	32	3	3	3	2.25	35
Ed Vande Berg	26	2	2	2	4.14	18
José Cecena	22	0	0	1	8.71	10
Guy Hoffman	11	0	0	0	5.24	9
Dwayne Henry	11	0	0	1	8.71	10
DeWayne Vaughn	8	0	0	0	7.63	8
Cecilio Guante	7	0	0	1	1.93	4
Tony Fossas	5	0	0	0	4.76	0
Steve Wilson	3	0	0	0	5.87	1
Jeff Kunkel	1	0	0	0	0.00	1

Farm system[]

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Oklahoma City 89ers	American Association	Toby Harrah
AA	Tulsa Drillers	Texas League	Jim Skaalen
A	Charlotte Rangers	Florida State League	Bobby Jones
A	Gastonia Rangers	South Atlantic League	Orlando Gómez
Rookie	GCL Rangers	Gulf Coast League	Chino Cadahia
Rookie	Butte Copper Kings	Pioneer League	Bump Wills

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Tulsa

References[]

• 1988 Texas Rangers at Baseball Reference
• 1988 Texas Rangers at Baseball Almanac
• 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.