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Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The Texas Rangers, who bested in-state rivals Houston en route to their 2023 Major League Baseball World Championship, received congratulations on their title from President Joe Biden on Thursday in Washington. During a ceremony held in the East Room of the White House, Biden offered praise to the team for its achievement last fall, in which it dispatched the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games to nail down the franchise's first-ever World Series victory.
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But it was the Rangers' hard-fought, seven-game American League Championship series against the Houston Astros that garnered the most attention.
Biden noted that although the Astros came back to win the American League West on the final day of the regular season after the Dallas-Fort Worth team had led virtually the entire season, it was the Rangers who got the last laugh in the ALCS.
"The American League West was as tough as it's ever been," Biden said. "The division race was decided on the last day. Although they may not have clinched the division, you certainly got the last word in. After sweeping Tampa Bay and Baltimore, you got your revenge on the Houston Astros."
Those comments elicited rowdy applause from the team members, coaches, executives, friends and family members who had gathered in the East Room.
The president also acknowledged that the Rangers franchise was actually founded as the second incarnation of the Washington Senators following the original team's move to Minnesota in 1961. The "new" Senators then moved to Texas to become the Rangers in 1972.
"You're back in the nation's capital as world champions, and you deserve it," he said.
Following Biden's comments, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy awarded him with a custom made honorary team jersey, as is traditional when championship U.S. sports teams are honored by the president.
In a nod to their Texas roots, the team also gave Biden a pair of black cowboy boots emblazoned with his initials, the Rangers' logo and the World Series trophy.
