Game 3 opens new chapter at Globe Life Field

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ARLINGTON -- Rangers general manager and Dallas native Chris Young came to the organization with the vision of bringing postseason baseball back to North Texas.

Young was in the midst of his 13-year MLB career during the organization’s best years with back-to-back American League pennants in 2010-11. Now, back in his hometown after a brief stint in the Commissioner’s Office following his retirement from the field, Young is ready for a packed house at Globe Life Field for its real postseason debut when the Rangers host the Orioles for Game 3 of the American League Division Series.

“I just remember seeing everybody wearing red and the Texas ‘T’ and the pride in the community and just how special it was for our fans,” Young recalled of his childhood in DFW. “I’m certainly excited to relive that. I skipped a generation when I was playing playoff baseball, but here we are again. I’m thrilled for our organization and especially for our fans, who have waited a while for this.”

Young was named the Rangers’ general manager on Dec. 4, 2020, just months after Globe Life Field hosted the World Series between the Dodgers and Rays during the pandemic. It was the closest the organization had come to postseason baseball in a long time.

Globe Life Field’s inaugural season, like many things in 2020, was disrupted by the pandemic. Those 16 postseason games (NLDS, NLCS, World Series) were the only games in which fans were allowed, in a limited capacity, until the following season.

Three years later, Texas drew 2,533,044 fans, the most since 2016, which is the last time the Rangers hosted a postseason game.

“I really haven't thought much about 2020,” Young said on Monday. “I just know this is a new building. It's a new era of Rangers baseball. Now to have a playoff game at home, I'm super excited for our fans. This is what I've envisioned so many times when I've walked in there and just looked around. Just to have a packed house full of 40,000 fans rocking and cheering on their home team, I think it's just great for our community.”

The Rangers are returning home from an 11-game, 14-day road trip, including stops at Los Angeles and Seattle to end the regular season and then at Tampa Bay and Baltimore to begin the postseason.

The paint has been freshly placed on the turf in Globe Life Field, with 2023 POSTSEASON down both baselines, representing exactly what Rangers fans have been eagerly anticipating for years now. After a weekend at Camden Yards, where the crowd and atmosphere lived up to the hype, its Texas counterpart is ready for its postseason debut.

“For me, I'm looking forward to it,” first-year Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “For Ranger fans, hopefully they're really excited because it's been a little while. It wasn't all that long ago when they were having a lot of postseason games. So to have the first one here at Globe Life Field, I'm honored to be part of that, and to be part of what's going on right now.

“It's a tough journey getting here. But it's good to be here, and I'm looking forward to just seeing the atmosphere. It's going to be an exciting time.”

The Rangers were 50-31 (.617) at home in 2023, good for the fourth-best home winning percentage in MLB, behind the Dodgers and Rays at 53-28 (.654) and the Braves at 52-29 (.642).

The club wants that home-field advantage to play in its favor.

“That’s why we came here,” Marcus Semien said in reference to, along with Corey Seager, signing with the Rangers in free agency. “Our fans have been great all year. We’ve played great at home all year and we’re playing great now. We just need to continue what we have been doing.”