The 2023 Major League Baseball World Series has inevitably come to an end. However, this time the team that took home the trophy, had never won in franchise history. The Texas Rangers are the newest World Series Champions.
Formed as the expansion, Washington Senators (Part II) in 1961, before moving to Arlington in ‘72, the Texas Rangers were the oldest MLB team without a single World Series title.
“They’re an amazing franchise. They were the best team and they beat us fair and square,” D-backs manager Torrey Lovullo said, according to MLB.com.
Before this year, the Rangers hadn’t seen a World Series, since the St. Louis Cardinals beat them four games to three in 2011. So, when the Rangers almost completely swept the Arizona Diamondbacks, four games to one, most of the baseball community was shocked, to say the least.
“We *were* sick of losing, these players were sick of losing. But Bruce Bochy believed this was a winning team. I just can’t describe how awesome this feeling is,” general manager of the Texas Rangers Chris Young said, according to ESPN.
Game five, the series winner, was an outright pitchers duel. The D-backs pitcher, Zac Gallen, became the first pitcher in World Series history, to take a no-hitter into the seventh inning, while facing elimination. However, the Rangers lineup put up a good fight, scoring one run at the top of the seventh, and four more at the top of the ninth. This 5-0 score would inevitably win them the game and the series.
“Getting no-hit in the seventh, we’d still find a way. I mean I think that sums up the grit of our guys and the battle. There was no panic in the dugout,” Rangers’ pitcher, Jordan Montgomery said.
Many would say the D-backs didn’t seize the moment, almost sort of wasting the lead Gallen gave them to score. Especially since Gallen’s pitching opponent, Nathan Eovaldi, gave up four hits, and five walks within six innings, giving the D-backs plenty of opportunities to score.
“It was everything that he could possibly give us and then some. He answered the bell. He came out fighting, and he was slugging it out,” Lovullo said.
After 52 years in the making, the Rangers have finally succeeded, in making the state of Texas proud. That being, because they are the second MLB team to have World Series rings. Now, it is up to the remaining five MLB teams, the Mariners, the Rockies, the Brewers, the Padres, and the Rays, to win their first ever World Series. If the Rangers winning has taught them anything, it’s that hard work really does pay off.
