Texas and Arizona

We've officially come full circle.  I started this blog right around this time 13 years ago...and my first few posts pretty much all revolved around the World Series, which included the Texas Rangers that year.  Now, the Rangers are back in the Fall Classic, just as I predicted.  Their opponent I definitely did not see coming, however.  There are very few, if any, people who thought the Diamondbacks would be here, yet here they are.

What we're left with is the third-ever all-wild card World Series (after 2002 & 2014), with the winner guaranteed to be the eighth wild card World Series champion and the first since the 2019 Nationals.  This also the third-ever World Series between two expansion teams (after Royals-Mets in 2015 & Nationals-Astros in 2019).  And we'll see a long drought come to an end.  The Rangers have been in existence since 1961, moved to Dallas in 1971, and have never won.  Arizona's only previous World Series appearance, meanwhile, was its championship 22 years ago.  Most of the time since then, they've been a sub-.500 team.  So, it's been a long time coming for both of them.

You know what's crazy about the Diamondbacks making it?  The dates of this year's World Series are exactly the same as the dates in 2001.  So, every World Series game in Diamondbacks history will be exactly 22 years apart.  It's also crazy to think that this is the second year of this playoff format where the top six teams in each league make it...and the No. 6 seed in the NL has reached the World Series both times!  Pre-2022, the Phillies and Diamondbacks don't even make the playoffs.  And they both ended up in the World Series.

It's also crazy to think that both of these teams lost 100 games in 2021.  So did the Orioles.  The two World Series participants and the team that had the best record in the American League.  Proof that it doesn't take long if you do it right, and maybe some hope for White Sox and Rockies fans (sorry, A's and Royals fans, but it'll be a more than two years for your teams).

In 2001, the Diamondbacks were a juggernaut anchored by two dominant starting pitchers--Curt Schilling and Hall of Famer Randy Johnson.  This year, it's been a similar formula.  And, while they're not Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, there's no denying that Arizona doesn't get here without Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly.  And they're gonna need them to step up one more time.  But, hey, if they each win both of their starts, that's the four wins the Diamondbacks need.

The problem, of course, is that Gallen and Kelly will be going against Nathan Eovaldi and Jordan Montgomery, then the Rangers have Max Scherzer waiting in the wings for Game 3 (and Game 7, should it get there).  Eovaldi is one of the best postseason pitchers of this generation.  His teams are undefeated in his starts and his only loss came in arguably his best, most clutch performance (when he threw six innings of relief in that epic 18-inning Game 3 at Dodger Stadium in 2018).  Montgomery, a guy the Yankees couldn't trust in the postseason, has been proving them more and more wrong with every start.  And, even though he wasn't vintage Max Scherzer in his two ALCS starts, there are worse things than having a future Hall of Famer lined up to start Game 7.

I love the approach the Rangers took to building this team.  After the 100-loss season, they went out and acted like the big-market franchise they are, signing Marcus Semien and Corey Seager back-to-back in the winter of 2021-22.  Then, last offseason, they addressed the pitching, bringing in Jacob deGrom (among others).  The ironic thing is that, due to injuries, they had to completely rebuild the rotation at the trade deadline.  Eovaldi, Montgomery and Scherzer all joined the team midseason.  They stand to potentially start six World Series games between them.

All season long, the Rangers' bullpen has been considered a weakness.  During the postseason, it's been anything but.  There was that one hiccup in Game 5 against Houston, but that's really been it.  The Diamondbacks' bullpen, meanwhile, is considered a strength, and it's one area where Arizona is thought to have the advantage.  I'm not so sure, though.  Especially if the Rangers get length out of their starters and don't need to rely on the bullpen as much.  Arizona, meanwhile, figures to go to the bullpen fairly regularly and has to figure out something for the three games Gallen and Kelly don't start.

Offensively, it's clearly advantage Texas.  The Rangers had all kinds of issues with the bat during their three ALCS home games.  Whatever was wrong, though, they figured it out in Houston.  Adolis Garcia especially.  Maybe throwing at him wasn't the smartest idea.  Because all the Astros did was piss him off and light a fire under his ass!  He hasn't stopped hitting since!

Speaking of guys who haven't stopped hitting, NLCS MVP Ketel Marte has at least one in every game this postseason.  That's insane!  The rest of the Arizona offense did just enough, and they sure took advantage of the Phillies' bats going quiet in Games 6 & 7.  But they also swept a pair of division winners in Milwaukee and the Dodgers, winning four of those five games on the road, so count them out at your own risk.

Texas started the postseason 7-0, with six of those wins coming on the road--against Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Houston.  The Rangers' road record this postseason, in fact, is 8-0, while they're just 1-3 at home.  The ALCS became the second playoff series in MLB history where the road team won every game, joining the 2019 World Series (the Astros lost both of those series).  The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, are 6-2 on the road in the playoffs.  They sure haven't looked like an 84-win team that barely got the last spot in the NL playoff field.

MLB.com had a fascinating article today with all of the memorable moments that have happened at Globe Life Field since it opened in 2020.  It's hosted multiple no-hitters and was the site of Aaron Judge's 62nd home run.  None of those were Rangers moments.  The first games in the stadium played in front of fans weren't even Rangers games, either.  They were in the 2020 World Series.

Chalk that up as another quirky thing about Globe Life Field.  This is the stadium's second World Series, but its first actually involving the home team.  Although, there is one member of the Rangers--Corey Seager--who'll have played in every World Series game in Globe Life Field history.  Seager was the World Series MVP in 2020, when the Dodgers beat the Rays in a series played entirely in the stadium.

Well, now the Rangers have a chance to actually add a moment of their own in their own ballpark!  And they'll have to.  Because, as good as they've been on the road, the Rangers need to win at least one home game if they want to win the first World Series title in franchise history. 

Their last appearance has painful memories.  A strike away twice in Game 6 in 2011, only for David Freese to become an October hero.  This year, things should be different.  The Rangers are the better team, and ending up as a wild card team after leading the AL West virtually all year I think was actually a good thing.  It served to motivate them, and they stormed right through the three best teams in the American League en route to the pennant.

There's also the Bruce Bochy factor.  The Rangers are the third team the future Hall of Fame manager has taken to the World Series.  He was there for San Francisco's run of three championships in five years from 2010-14 (the first of which came against Texas).  In his first season with the Rangers, he gets his fourth ring and Texas gets its first championship.  Rangers in six.  They finally won't have to watch somebody else celebrate on their home field.  They'll have a celebration of their own.