Texas Rangers Win First World Series In Franchise History By: Brody Sorbera
It finally happened; after 62 seasons and 52 in Texas, the Rangers finally won that elusive ring and won the World Series in 5 games in another dominant performance that has defined the team all postseason, which is ironic considering they were a team of destiny all year, this is the same team that lost 100+ games two years ago, so did the team they beat the Diamondbacks, which shows how bizarre baseball truly is, which makes it awesome. The improbability of it all goes deeper than that, as this is the same team that lost three out of their last four games to lose the division lead on the final day after leading most of the year to the Astros.
When they entered the playoffs, it looked all over as they already had a slim chance of winning it all; they were predicted by some to beat the notoriously underachieving Tampa Bay Rays but were expected to run into a brick wall with the red-hot Orioles, then a little known prospect named Adolis Garcia came to the plate, *bomb sound effect goes off* of that's just him hitting another bomb and annihilating opposing fans hopes and dreams. This all came together because of two reasons: they spent a lot of money, and they did it wisely.
First with Jacob DeGrom, then Andrew Heaney, then a key part of their playoff push, Nathan Eovaldi, who immediately boosted a once terrible bullpen, but even with that, the expectations were low as they were in the same division as the defending Champs the Houston Astros, and young and up and coming Seattle Mariners and the L.A. Angels with two of the most exciting players in the game (even though they have failed to build a team around them) which is why they were projected to finish 4th in the division.
What happened next shocked the baseball world; the Rangers immediately took the lead in the division for most of the year; with everything firing on all cylinders despite the loss of Jacob DeGrom, who already had injury concerns, the Texas Rangers were off and running while the Astros struggled with a bad championship hangover, and to the surprise of no one the Mariners and Angels underperformed. The Astros got it together late in the season after possibly missing out on the playoffs for the first time in a decade. On the final day of the season, the Rangers lost the division lead to the Astros, and expectations immediately fell off a cliff, but it would also be the last time they lost on the road; they went on a dominant run for the rest of the postseason sweeping the Rays and stunning the red hot Orioles all to set them up with a date against their in-state rival.
The first two games were away, and the Rangers unsurprisingly continued their road dominance, stunning Astros fans as whispers of another sweep began. But the Astros showed they could play road ball too and won their next two in Arlington; then came game 5, the Rangers had a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the 9th as they were looking forward to taking a commanding 3-2 series to go back on the road and cap off their road dominance to win the series in 6. Jose Altuve and the Astros had other ideas, and he hit a three-run homer to win 5-4, stunning the Rangers and immediately changing the momentum entirely in the series. Rangers fans have known collapse since they decided to swear their allegiance to them; need I remind them of the endless late-season collapses, the playoff meltdowns against Toronto, and not to mention *whispers* 2011. It looked like another one of those collapses, and we were all bracing for another World Series with the Astros, but in the back of our minds, we saw how dominant they had been on the road all postseason, and there was the feeling going around that maybe this year was different. The Rangers proceeded to put on two of the most dominant games they had played all season, hitting everything that the Astros threw at them (quite literally) and completely shutting down the Astros hitting except for Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman, and that wasn't enough as the Rangers win the series in 7 and go on to win the World Series in dominant fashion.
This season and postseason were like something out of a movie: a team of underdogs that had everything thrown at them, and they overcame all adversity to win it all; there were so many points where other teams would've folded, but they kept pounding at it until the final strike was called. Congratulations to the 2023 World Series Champion Texas Rangers, and I can't wait to see more from this team in the future.