1971 Major League Baseball season in the context of "Pittsburgh Pirates"

The Texas Rangers are an American professional baseball team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Rangers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. The team was founded as the Washington Senators in 1961, an expansion team awarded to Washington, D.C., after the previous Senators incarnation moved to Minneapolis to become the Minnesota Twins. The new Senators relocated to Arlington, Texas after the 1971 season and debuted as the Rangers the following spring. In 2020, the Rangers moved to the new Globe Life Field after having played at Globe Life Park (now Choctaw Stadium) from 1994 to 2019. The team's name is derived from a historic law enforcement agency.

The Rangers have made nine appearances in the MLB postseason, seven following division championships in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2010, 2011, 2015, and 2016 and as a wild card team in both 2012 and 2023. Prior to 2010, the Rangers were the only team in MLB to have never advanced past the first round of the playoffs. In 2010, the Rangers advanced past the Division Series for the first time, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays. The team then won their first American League pennant after beating the New York Yankees in six games; league MVP Josh Hamilton won their first ALCS MVP award for a Ranger player. In their first appearance in a World Series, the Rangers fell to the San Francisco Giants in five games. They repeated as American League champions the following year, but famously lost the 2011 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games after twice being one strike away from winning the series in game six. The Rangers made it to the 2023 World Series and won their first-ever championship, defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games, with Corey Seager being the first Ranger player to win the World Series Most Valuable Player Award.

The Washington Senators were a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Senators competed in Major League Baseball (MLB) as one of the American League's first expansion franchises. The club was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1961 to replace the recently departed Washington Senators who moved to Minnesota as the Minnesota Twins. Following the 1971 season, the team relocated to Dallas–Fort Worth, where they were renamed the Texas Rangers.

The 11-year tenure in Washington, D.C. saw the team plagued with poor performances, and were the definition of futility, losing an average of 94 games a season. The team's struggles led to a twist on a joke about the old Senators: "Washington: first in war, first in peace and still last in the American League." Their only winning season was in 1969 when Hall of Famer Ted Williams managed the club to an 86–76 record, placing fourth in the AL East.