Improbable is probably the right word for what the Texas Rangers accomplished. Not impossible. Not completely shocking.
It just seemed improbable in early October that the Rangers would be able to storm through this postseason and capture their first World Series championship in franchise history.
They had to overcome a rash of injuries, an unfavorable playoff schedule and their own late-season ineptitude.
But they did all of it – ending their World Series run with an odd pitchers’ duel and, ultimately, a satisfying, 5-0, Game 5 victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Rangers were this year’s fifth seed in the American League – the second Wild Card team — primarily because they lost their division lead in the final days of the regular season, dropping four of six on the road.
A club that was 40-41 this year away from Globe Life Field, then won an MLB-record 11 consecutive postseason games at Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Houston and Phoenix, picking up the World Series clincher after being no-hit through the first six innings Wednesday by Arizona’s Zac Gallen.
“It’s amazing how they came together. I go back to Seattle (on the last day of the season),” Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said during Wednesday’s trophy presentation. “We lost a tough game there trying to win this division and they could have gotten down. They went to Tampa, put that beside them, and just got after it. It’s incredible to do what they did. That’s what we talked about, how tough a group this is, how resilient they are.”
Bochy, 68, is another part of this improbable story. This time last year, he was retired, “sitting in a recliner in Nashville just enjoying myself.” But one of his former players, current Rangers general manager Chris Young, called Bochy and lured him out of retirement.
Now, Bochy is one of only six managers in MLB history with at least four World Series titles, joining legends Casey Stengel, Joe McCarthy, Connie Mack, Joe Torre and Walter Alston. Bochy is the only one of that group to have won championships with multiple franchises (Bochy’s first three were with the San Francisco Giants).
Perhaps killing the full Cinderella vibe is that the Rangers, who won 90 games in the regular season, were the favorites against an 84-win, sixth-seeded Diamondbacks club.
Furthermore, the Rangers have the fourth highest total payroll in the game at $251 million, according to spotrac.com’s payroll tracker. In comparison, the Diamondbacks were 21st overall in total payroll with $119 million.
The Rangers’ payroll, however, is top heavy, with more than half of that overall figure dedicated to four players: infielders Corey Seager and Marcus Semien and injured pitchers Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom. Many of the Rangers’ players who stepped up this year, including Adolis García, Josh Jung, Evan Carter, Leodys Taveras and the duo who participated in Wednesday’s final pitch, reliever Josh Sborz and catcher Jonah Heim, are making less than $1 million each.
The Rangers lost 94 games in 2022, 102 in 2021 and hadn’t had a winning season since 2016. They hadn’t been to the World Series since repeat losing performances in 2010 and 2011 and had never won one in their existence, which dates to 1972 in Texas and 1961 as the Washington Senators.
Texas Rangers grab first World Series title in improbable fashion
“Our fans, they waited a long time for this,” Young said, while holding the World Series trophy. “The wait is over. They deserve this.”
The Rangers finally seized that elusive ring, but first had to endure one of the most unique pitching duels in memory.
Arizona’s Zac Gallen cruised, not allowing a baserunner until a two-out walk in the fifth and becoming the first pitcher in a World Series potential elimination game to navigate through six innings without allowing a hit.
After struggling to a 5.27 ERA in five previous starts this postseason, Gallen was masterful Wednesday, striking out six. He needed only 35 pitches to retire the first 12 batters he faced.
Meanwhile, Texas’ Nate Eovaldi wasn’t quite so efficient. He was in trouble from the start, throwing four straight balls in the bottom of the first to Diamondbacks’ leadoff hitter Corbin Carroll, who then stole second base.
Arizona immediately had a runner in scoring position that eventually was stranded – and that became the theme for Eovaldi through six stressful innings. After walking five total batters in five previous 2023 postseason starts, Eovaldi allowed five walks and four hits in six innings.
And, somehow, none scored. Arizona was 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position against Eovaldi. They left a total of 11 men on base. “Big Game Nate,” who is 9-3 as a playoff pitcher (with five victories coming in 2023), kept bending and bending without breaking.
“I kind of joked around that I didn’t know how many rabbits I had in my hat left,” Eovaldi told Fox Sports postgame.
Gallen didn’t need to bend; everything he threw was darting, everything was going so smoothly. Until the seventh, when Seager broke up the no-hitter with a single to left off the end of his bat. Carter followed with a double and Mitch Garver added an RBI single – and suddenly the Rangers took the lead against a pitcher that literally had been unhittable moments before.
It stayed 1-0 until the Rangers exploded for four runs in the top of the ninth against Arizona closer Paul Sewald, the barrage highlighted by a Semien two-run homer.
And that was it.
The Rangers are finally World Series champions.
Seager, who had three homers in the Series and the key cue shot on Wednesday, joined Hall-of-Famer Reggie Jackson as the only two position players to ever win multiple World Series MVP awards.
“Kind of a crazy game, getting no-hit until the (seventh). Gallen was unbelievable tonight, but we came through,” Semien told Fox Sports postgame. “Once Corey got the first hit, everybody kind of woke up.”
And the Rangers players realized their lifelong dream.
It wasn’t an impossible one, though. Just improbable.
Dan Connolly is an MLB Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.