Start making plans, the Texas Rangers are going to win their first World Series
When the Texas Rangers left Arlington for the desert, coming back home with a World Series trophy was a possibility but unlikely.
Now you may just want to go ahead and plan that possibility becoming a reality.
If that much confidence makes your stomach hurt, at least start planning on the Rangers winning the World Series when they return home.
(Yes, the World Series played in 2023.)
The Rangers, with all of their ugly and sometimes painful history, are not going to blow this one.
This is not 2011. Yadier Molina and Chris Carpenter are not walking through that door with David Freese for the Diamondbacks, who are not the 2004 Boston Red Sox.
About one hour after the Rangers learned their most potent offseason bat is done, and their high-dollar trade deadline starting pitching acquisition is also out, the Rangers took all hope away from the Diamondbacks.
The Rangers scored five runs in both the second and third inning to suck the fun and enthusiasm out of Chase Field on Halloween night here in Phoenix. The Rangers batted around the Diamondbacks 11-7 to win Game 4 of the World Series.
“It’s a good position, there are definitely worse positions to be in,” Rangers third baseman Josh Jung said in the clubhouse after the game. “We just can’t let our minds go there.”
Things we didn’t expect to say when spring training was rolling 30 miles up the road on March 1, in nearby Surprise, Ariz.: The Rangers lead the World Series 3-1, and can close this out on November 1.
“We’ll address that when we get there,” Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe said after the Game 4 win of potentially winning the World Series. “(Game 5) is another win in the way of our goal.”
As the Red Sox ended their World Series streak in ‘04, the White Sox in ‘05 and the Cubs in ‘16, every single sign both real and imagined point to the Rangers finally winning the something this franchise never has since it started in 1961, in Washington D.C.
It just feels like this is their time. Also, they lead the World Series three-games-to-one, and historically teams don’t lose those.
The Rangers have yet to lose a game on the road this postseason, 10-0. Game 5 is on the road.
As exciting as Games 1 and 3 of this World Series were, Game 4 was the snore-a-looza, beat down we were not expecting.
We weren’t expecting it because the Rangers said before the start of Game 4 that outfielder Adolis Garcia is out for the rest of this series with a strain in his oblique that he suffered in Game 3. At the same time, the Rangers also had to move starting pitcher Max Scherzer off the postseason roster because of a back spasm he suffered in Game 3.
Garcia spoke passionately to the team before the game in the clubhouse. The message is simple: Pick me up.
“He’s what makes this team go,” Rangers catcher Jonah Heim said. “It’s hard. You know he’s hurting. You know he wants to be out there with us.”
In Game 4, not having Garcia made no difference.
Garcia’s replacement, Travis Jankowski collected two hits — including a double — scored twice and drove in two runs.
Second baseman Marcus Semien finally sealed up the holes in his bat; he tripled, and hit a three-run home run. Shortstop Corey Seager hit another home run, his third of this World Series, and hit a ground-rule double.
“To me it was nobody trying to do too much,” Jankowski said, “and just putting stuff together.”
The first 10 Rangers’ runs came with two outs, a World Series first.
When Arizona finally did something by rallying with four runs in the eighth inning, they cut their deficit to six.
You get the idea.
Game 4 was the unofficial “bullpen start” for both teams, and the Rangers “reliever” turned in the start his team needed. The performance by starting pitcher Andrew Heaney never allowed the Diamondbacks to enter this game; he allowed one run on four hits in five innings while earning his first postseason win.
The Rangers were a good team during the regular season, and hit the perfect time to peak: October.
The Diamondbacks were average most of the season and now look like your classic playoff “low seed” that played above its head before finally running into a superior opponent.
The Diamondbacks did trail the Phillies 2-0, and 3-2, before they rallied to win the National League Championship Series in Philadelphia.
They outplayed the Rangers in both Games 1 and 2 in Arlington, but left with a split. Once the Diamondbacks gave up that game-tying, two-run home run to Seager in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 1, it changed the series for Texas.
The Diamondbacks aren’t talented enough to give away wins. And they aren’t better than the Texas Rangers are now.
“This was a grinder,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “This was nothing we saw coming. It all came unraveled in two innings.”
For any Rangers fan older than the age of 2, this seems impossible to comprehend but they’re team is going to win the World Series.
Because this isn’t 2011.
This is 2023, and it’s just finally their turn.
This story was originally published October 31, 2023 at 10:28 PM.
