On November 1, 2023, the Texas Rangers dugout stormed Chase Field after relief pitcher Josh Sborz threw the final pitch into the top right of the batter's box against Arizona Diamondbacks slugger Ketel Marte. The Texas Rangers had won their first championship with a 5-0 victory in Game 5 of the 2023 World Series.
Game 5 started out strong for the Diamondbacks, facing a 3-1 deficit in the series. Cy Young Award hopeful Zac Gallen was up to pitch, throwing a no-hitter through 6 innings. Quickly, Gallen's luck fell apart as Rangers shortstop Corey Seager hit an opposite-field grounder, followed by a double hit by rookie fielder Evan Carter, and topped off by a single down the middle by DH Mitch Garver to bring Seager in home. As Yahoo! Sports describes, "Across five pitches, momentum shifted from the home team watching their ace’s historic performance to the road team counting down the outs."The game remained 1-0 until the top of the ninth inning, when the Rangers took over to hammer the win home. Third baseman Josh Jung and first baseman Nathaniel Lowe got leadoff singles off Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald, and a missed ball pick-up in center field by Alek Thomas allowed an RBI single hit by catcher Jonah Heim. Once again, the Rangers hit multiple times in a row to continue the shift of momentum in the ball game.
Heim sat on third base as Sewald struck Loedy Tavares out and Travis Jankowski grounded out to short. Then, second baseman Marcus Semien decided it was time to send the Rangers back home with the trophy.
It wasn't an easy win for the Rangers, however. Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi stressed most Rangers fans out at home, but no scores were run. Yahoo! Sports writes, "The D-backs got the leadoff runner on base in the first. They got a runner to second in the second. They got runners on second and third in the third. They added a double in the fourth and loaded the bases in the fifth. The result: zero runs."
The turnaround of the Texas Rangers organization began with the December 4, 2020 hiring of general manager Chris Young. Young began his tenure as the Rangers' executive watching his team place last in the NL West in 2021, with a terrible 60-102 record. This was the franchise's worst record since their 57-105 season in 1973, and it was the third-worst record in the MLB. Young immediately attempted to turn things around with an ambitious usage of $556 million combined to sign stars on November 28-29, 2021. This money was invested into second baseman Marcus Semien, shortstop Corey Seager, and pitcher Jon Gray. Jeff Passan of ESPN writes, "For Seager and Semien in particular, the choice to sign with a Texas team that looked to the industry like it was going nowhere fast registered as puzzling."
Things didn't turn around immediately. The Rangers merely improved their record to 68-94 and placed fourth in the NL West. The season was an all-around disaster as manager Chris Woodward was fired midseason in August, along with longtime President of Baseball Operations Jon Daniels, who had previously headed the office during their 2010 and 2011 World Series appearances. A change in the front office and coaching staff of the Rangers was coming and could be the final step to allow the Rangers to blossom.
This final step began with the hiring of Hall-of-Fame hopeful Bruce Bochy on October 21, 2022. The French manager had a tenure of managing from 1995 to 2019 with the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants. Bochy already had three World Series titles with the Giants in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Bochy had been convinced to come out of retirement after Young flew to Nashville himself to discuss returning to the pros with Bochy.
The 2022 MLB offseason spurred more of a free agent frenzy for the Rangers. One of the most decorated and successful pitchers of the free agent class, two-time NL Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, inked a five-year deal for $185 million with Texas on December 2. Young would also add Andrew Heaney to the rotation on a two-year contract. Nathan Eovaldi, the pitcher who would ensure the Game 5 victory against the Diamondbacks, was signed to Texas in late December on a two-year deal.
"Our talks in the offseason, it was all about winning the World Series championship," Eovaldi said about his intrigue to Texas, as reported by ESPN. "The offense was there. CY was really adamant about adding pitching, and when they signed deGrom and Heaney, I thought I was done. And then Christmas, we were able to make it happen."
Texas still was not taken seriously as a World Series contender... somehow. Surrounding the big pickups of Seager and Semien was developing star fielder Adolis Garcia, an All-Star in 2021, as well as Nathaniel Lowe, who was named a Silver Slugger in 2022, and rookie fielder Evan Carter, one of the best outfield prospects in baseball. Now with deGrom, Heaney, and Eovaldi added to the rotation, the Rangers had serious firepower., but no one saw it yet.
The Rangers started out fairly strong, leading the AL West nearly every day of the first half of the season. However, in June, some disaster struck as the team announced deGrom would undergo Tommy John surgery to repair a UCL injury. The Rangers would assess their situation and trade for 39-year-old Max Scherzer, known for his high intensity and outstanding service to the game, as well as for starter Jordan Montgomery and reliever Chris Stratton. Young put his philosophy of how you can never have enough pitching to the test. ESPN describes, "Eovaldi's elbow started barking and sent him to the injured list. Without Scherzer and Montgomery, the Rangers' late-season swoon -- which included an eight-game losing streak -- might have turned into a full-on collapse and thwarted any sort of October appearance, let alone a championship run."
The Rangers snuck into the playoffs with a 6-1 win over the Seattle Mariners on September 30, which was bookended by two losses before and one loss afterward. The fun was only beginning, however. Texas entered the playoffs as a 5 seed, knowing they'd have to toughen up on the road. No problem for these Rangers, with two easy wins in Tampa against the Rays to advance to the ALDS. The Rangers continued their domination on the road, grabbing a 2-0 lead in the ALDS on the road against the Baltimore Orioles and finishing the sweep at home.
The Rangers stepped right into Minute Maid Park in Houston without fear. They took a 2-0 series lead on the road, before losing three straight at home. The Astros walked themselves back from a 4-2 deficit in Game 5 leading into the ninth, before a crucial Jose Altuve three-run home run allowed the Astros back up to bring Houston back home with a comfortable 3-2 series lead. The Rangers would dominate Game 6, capped off by a grand slam by Adolis Garcia in the top of the ninth to break his cold streak of batting 0-4 during the game, and the Rangers would force Game 7. A comfortable 11-4 win by the Rangers in Game 7 brought the Rangers the AL pennant and back to the World Series. Adolis Garcia led the way for Texas, scoring a record-breaking 15 RBIs as well as five home runs. Garcia's 15 RBIs are the most by a player in a single MLB series in the sport's history, and he would subsequently be named the ALCS MVP as a result.
The Rangers would walk through the Diamondbacks in the World Series with ease, going a combined 11-0 in road games throughout the entire postseason. ESPN also adds that "the Rangers became the first team since the 1966 Baltimore Orioles to win a World Series without committing an error." Corey Seager won the World Series MVP for the second time in his career, joining Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson as the only two-time winners of the award. Seager went "6-for-21 (.286) with three home runs, one double, three walks, six RBIs and six runs scored." Seager began the rally that won the Rangers the series, hitting a two-run homer to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth in Game 1, setting up an Adolis Garcia walk-off in extra innings.
Bruce Bochy himself would win his fourth World Series title, as manager. As stated by ESPN, "Less than a year ago, he was spending his retirement in Nashville, Tennessee, coaching his grandson's T-ball team, and now he was the owner of a fourth championship, only the sixth manager with as many."
The ambitious highs of the Rangers come solely from the actions of an executive who enjoyed taking risks and his resiliency having rubbed off the team he runs. And yet again, the 2023 Texas Rangers will always be marked in the history books.
Watch the entire final inning of Game 5 here.
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