From Bottom-Five Team to Champion: The Story of the Texas Rangers
The Texas Rangers are World Series champions for the first time in franchise history! The Rangers shut out the Arizona Diamondbacks 5–0 in game five of the World Series on Wednesday night to clinch the 2023 title. It’s an incredible accomplishment for the Rangers, who finally won the Commissioner’s Trophy in their 62nd season as a franchise.
The Rangers wouldn’t have made it this far without taking plenty of gambles, their first being in the 2021 offseason. Just two months after a 102-loss season, Texas spent big-time money, signing infielders Marcus Semien and Corey Seager to a combined $500 million. They also made a big move via trade, as they acquired catcher Mitch Garver from the Minnesota Twins. While Texas was still far from contention, they finally had some respectable pieces.
2022 allowed for some improvement, but not very much, as the Rangers went 68–94. Still not getting the answers they were looking for, they fired manager Chris Woodward in the middle of the season. In need of a new leader, Texas made another massive move, as they brought Bruce Bochy out of retirement. Bochy was a three-time World Series champion with the San Francisco Giants, and Texas hoped he could bring them to that same result. The big moves didn’t stop with Bochy. Texas spent a lot on their pitching staff, as they brought in Andrew Heaney, Will Smith, Nathan Eovaldi, and most importantly, Jacob deGrom.
All of these moves and gambles paid off big time for the Rangers. They finished the regular season with a 90–72 record and clinched their first postseason berth since 2016. They ran through the American League and took down the Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, and Houston Astros on their way to the American League pennant. As mentioned in the first paragraph, they finally won the World Series, defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games.
The Rangers’ title has history added to it as well. Along with it being their first, they became the first team in MLB history to win every road Postseason game (eleven total) that they played. They were also the first in MLB history to score ten two-out runs in a postseason game. Looking at the accolades, this is the fourth title for Bruce Bochy, third for Will Smith, and second for Corey Seager, Max Scherzer, Nathan Eovaldi, and Aroldis Chapman. For the rest of the players, this is their first title.
As a baseball fan, I’m so happy for the Texas Rangers! It was fantastic to see a team that tried so hard to win finally put it all together and win a championship. Were you happy that the Rangers won? What did you think about the World Series overall? Despite baseball season being over, I don’t plan to stop blogging, so stay tuned for posts about other sports!
A link to a story that inspired me to write this blog: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38802027/world-series-mlb-2023-rangers-texas-philosophy-title-championship
