Advertisement
This is member-exclusive content
icon/ui/info filled

sportsRangers

Rangers fans proudly celebrate World Series win at Globe Life Field watch party in Texas

Rangers fans in Arlington cheered as they watched Game 5 on jumbotrons.

Texas Rangers fans wait for the Grand Slam Team Store at Globe Life Field to open in Arlington on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023.

ARLINGTON — Globe Life Field was wild Wednesday night as thousands of people celebrated the Texas Rangers winning the team’s first-ever World Series.

Fans — who had already proven how loud they could be during previous postseason games — went ballistic after the Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game 5.

The cheers were ear-splittingly loud.

Fireworks shot from the top of the scoreboard.

Rangers

Be the smartest Rangers fan. Get the latest news.

Or with:

People were jumping up and down, dancing in the concourses and high-fiving and hugging strangers.

The Rangers finally did it.

Advertisement

Matt Prichard was at the game with his sons, Luke and Taylor. The three were some of the first people to purchase Rangers World Series champions shirts.

Prichard has been coming to Rangers games since the team moved to Arlington in 1972.

Advertisement

”This is just phenomenal,” he said.

There was a feeling of excitement in the air before the game began as people funneled into their seats on the main and upper concourses searching for where they could best see the broadcast on the jumbotrons.

Attendees got to eat their favorite ballpark food, hear the “ice cold beer” calls and chant “Let’s go Rangers.”

A new bright red banner that says “American League Champions 2023″ was hanging in the stadium, reminding fans of what the team had already accomplished this postseason. Now, an even newer banner will hang beside it.

A series of watch parties

Watch parties were held at Globe Life Field for Games 3, 4 and 5, which were played at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Tickets — $10 a piece for general-admission-style seating — for the Game 5 watch party sold out by early Wednesday afternoon. Organizers released more tickets, which also sold out more than an hour before the game.

Advertisement

Globe Life Field has a seating capacity of more than 40,000 people, not including suites, and appeared a little less than half full during the watch party.

The stadium wasn’t operating as it would during a home game, but there were numerous concession stands and merchandise stores open.

Photo opportunities were aplenty with a balloon arch that had lights spelling out “WORLD SERIES” and other Fall Classic-themed backdrops, in addition to the team’s mascot, Rangers Captain, posing with fans.

Advertisement

During commercial breaks, there were raffles for autographed memorabilia and other prizes, T-shirt tosses and sing-alongs to songs from the Rangers’ unofficial hype band Creed, “Deep in the Heart of Texas” and BigXthaPlug’s “Texas.”

Texas Rangers fans celebrate after the Rangers scored two runs in the second inning during a...
Texas Rangers fans celebrate after the Rangers scored two runs in the second inning during a World Series Game 4 watch party at Globe Life Field, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, in Arlington.(Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)

Some people walked around the concourse and paused at important moments in the game to glance at the TV, while the majority of others settled into their seats.

Despite a scoreless first six innings, fans stayed energized. They clapped and shouted whenever the Rangers’ pitcher struck out a Diamondback player or the Rangers caught a ball in the outfield.

Advertisement

The crowd’s volume began building even more in the seventh and eighth innings when a Rangers run was finally on the scoreboard.

Don and Laura Wiggins of Fort Worth, longtime Rangers fans, were excited to talk about major moments for the team; like when Neftali Feliz struck out Alex Rodriguez in 2010 and when the couple was able to attend World Series games in 2011.

“There’s been so many ups and downs,” Don said at the half of the seventh inning after the Rangers scored their first run. “We need to win this.”

Advertisement

Laura jokingly said she liked the watch parties because of the atmosphere with other fans, rather than watching the game on the TV at home where Don’s emotions can run high sometimes.

“This is so enjoyable,” she said.

Minus catching foul balls and seeing their favorite players on the field, fans fell into their niche baseball game activities. A row of elementary-aged boys started “Let’s go Rangers” chants between cracking open peanuts and dropping the shells on the ground, men drank beers in baseball bat-sized cups and fans twirled their red Rangers-branded towels as they hooted and hollered.

Best of all, they got to celebrate a win — arguably the team’s most important win to date — with other fans.

Advertisement

The night ended with smiles and clapping as the party trickled outside of the stadium and fans celebrated the Rangers’ first-ever World Series win.

Related Stories
View More