“This is just a surreal moment, there’s just so many things that have happened in this past month and to finally be the last team standing, there’s just no better feeling,” Max Scherzer, Rangers star pitcher said.
For the first time ever, the Texas Rangers are MLB World Champions. After over a decade of not playing postseason baseball, the Rangers faced off the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 4-1 series and finally took the Commissioner’s Trophy to Arlington. Finishing the regular season with a 90-72 record, the Texas Rangers were right on the cusp of spending the postseason at home, but they snatched up the American League wildcard spot and rode it till the end while also maintaining an unheard of 11-0 on the road record.
“It’s just a resilient group man, we didn’t care where we were, you know we were coming out and competing, we were gonna try to win that night and fortunately we won a bunch on the road,” Corey Seager, Rangers shortstop and World Series MVP, said.
With superstars on both sides of the ball, the Rangers gained momentum late in the final game of the series and rang in a 5-0 score to win it all. After Diamondback’s star pitcher, Zach Gallen’s incredible mound work for six innings, his no-hitter was eventually broken by none other than the postseason legend, Corey Seager.
From the seventh inning on, it was a matter of how long the Rangers could keep their one-run lead. This was until the last and final inning where Texas brought in four runs to extend their lead and solidify their title as world champs.
In a bases loaded situation from the 8th, Diamondback pitcher Kevin Ginkle made it out unscathed without any runs coming in the but Rangers offense responded rapidly with two runners coming in on an error in center field followed by a Marcus Semien 2-run homerun.
Along with specific superstars, the team’s synergy and resilience played an extremely important role in the franchise’s first championship. After a few key players suffered from injuries such as powerhouse hitter Adolis Garcia who left game three of the series with an oblique injury and Scherzer who got taken off the series roster due to a back injury, the Texas Rangers proved their grit and perseverance by powering through these loses.
“I’m so proud of this team, we as a team fought through adversities, injuries, and we came out on top,” Jonah Heim, Rangers catcher, said on Fox Sports.
Rangers closer Josh Sborz threw the last pitch to strike out National League MVP Ketal Marte, bringing a close to the 2023 MLB season and starting up a wild night in Arlington.
With this championship under the ballclubs belt, they are destined for big talk this upcoming season, giving them room for bigger and better things like expansion and overall team building to keep that synergy going.
“We’re gonna have a great team next year, but for now it’s just about enjoying this moment,” Schezer said.
