ARLINGTON, Texas — The last time Ron Washington and Bruce Bochy had managed against each other in Texas was during the 2010 World Series.
Baseball’s oldest two managers are facing each other in a three-game series this weekend, with the 72-year-old Washington back in Texas as a visiting manager for the first time with the Los Angeles Angels - and getting 9-3 win in the series opener.
“Wash, he’s entertaining. I love talking to him,” Bochy, who is three years younger than Washington, said before Friday’s game.
They are the only managers to take Texas to the World Series. The Rangers won their first championship last year in Bochy’s first season with them, and went to back-to-back with Washington in 2010 and 2011 - after the franchise that began as the Washington Senators from 1961-71 had never even won a postseason series before that.
Washington, in the first season of his first managerial job since being with Texas from 2007-14, got a nice ovation from Texas fans when his name was announced with the Los Angeles starting lineup about 15 minutes before first pitch.
He is the winningest manager in Rangers franchise history with 664 wins, and those two AL pennants.
“The biggest memory that floats back is watching those guys grow and become champions, that’s the biggest one,” Washington said, when asked what he remembered most.
That 2010 World Series ended in Game 5 at the Rangers’ old ballpark across the street, where the San Francisco Giants clinched the first of their three World Series championships in a five-year span. Bochy got his fourth World Series title when the Rangers won last season after he came out of a three-year retirement.
“It’s hard to manage against Boch. Every time I had an opportunity to be in a must-win game against Boch, it didn’t work well for me,” Washington said. “I just love talking to him. He brings a lot of wisdom, a lot of intelligence and credibility. He’s such a great baseball man and he’s always willing to share. That’s what I love the most about him.”
Bochy managed his 4,240th game in the big leagues Friday night, with his 2,116 wins the most among active managers and 10th on the all-time list. This is his 27th season as a manager, including 12 with San Diego and 13 with the Giants.
For Washington, it was his 1,320th game as a manager - his 45th with the Angels, and the rest during his eight seasons with Texas.
The only time they had gone head-to-head as managers since their World Series meeting was a three-game interleague series in San Francisco during the 2012 season, when Washington and the Rangers took two of three games.
This weekend isn’t Washington’s first visit to Globe Life Field, the retractable-roof stadium that opened in 2020.
He was Atlanta’s third-base coach when the Braves lost a seven-game National League Championship Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers played in the new stadium when the 2020 postseason was held at neutral sites during the COVID-19 pandemic. Atlanta also played regular-season series there against the Rangers in 2022 and 2023.
“It’s always great to come back here,” said Washington, who still has a house a few miles from the stadium.
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