Rangers raise title banner, win opener in extras

The Rangers opened their season by raising their World Series banner and beating the Cubs in extra innings in front of the largest regular-season crowd -- 42,130 -- in Globe Life Field's short history. There was a "small hitch in the unveiling" of the banner, which now hangs to the right of the giant right-field scoreboard, as the left side "didn’t fall in unison with the right side, creating a wrinkle" (FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 3/28). The crowd at Globe Life Field included Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and former President George W. Bush. Both have been "mainstays" over the years at Rangers games in Arlington (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 3/28).

The pregame banner-unfurling ceremony "started with an honest-to-goodness highlight video" of big moments on the way to the World Series. In "quite a difference from the past," the whole ceremony, from the video, to manager Bruce Bochy thanking the fans via handheld microphone, to the unfurling of the banner, "was pretty much perfect" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 3/28).