Rangers Journey to the World Series
After 52 years the Rangers were able to win their first World Series. They beat the Diamondbacks 4-1. The Rangers were led by their 2 MVP candidates Corey Seager and Marcus Semien. However, it was their role players that made the difference. Mitch Garver had many clutch RBIs. Leody Taveras was a lockdown centerfeilder. Nathaniel Lowe was a great power bat. Jonah Hiem Became an all-star catcher. They also had great pitching led by Nathan Eovaldi. Followed by Max Scherzer, Andrew Heany, and Dane Dunning. Even though they have all these great players I believe their journey to get to the World Series was more interesting.
In my opinion, the Ranger’s journey to a World Series started when they traded away Joey Gallo in 2021. In this trade, they received Eziquel Duran who became a big part of Texas’ offense. At the end of this season, the Rangers signed Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and John Gray. Then in 2022, they signed Jacob Degrom, Nathan Eovaldi, and Andrew Heany. The most important signing however might’ve been their new coach Bruce Bochy. Bochy was a 3-time champion before coming to the Rangers. The winning culture that Bochy brought to the team turned them from a 68-94 team to a World Series champion.
At the start of the season, the Rangers started slightly above average going 6-4 through the first ten games. Then on April 9th, the Rangers called up a promising catcher Sam Huff. Then they won 7 out of the next 10 games. Then on June 1st, Aroldis Chapman was activated and the Rangers went on a 5-game win streak. Going into the all-star break the Rangers were on a tiny losing streak but still ended up being 52-39. The Rangers had 4 all-stars selected; Marcus Siemien, Corey Seager, Jonah Hiem, and rookie Josh Jung. They then gained a ton of momentum winning 5 straight. However, everything started to go bad on August 18th. They lost 7 in a row and 15 out of 19 games. This caused them to concede the division lead to the Astros. They almost fell out of the playoffs, but they picked it up and ended up in the Wildcad at the end of the year.
Going into the playoffs, the Rangers were not one of the favorites to win it all. Their losing streak caused many MLB fans to doubt their ability to win in the clutch. Juggernauts like the Braves, Dodgers, and Rays seemed unbeatable, but the Rangers were able to sweep the Rays even though they had the best pitching staff in baseball. Then the Dodgers got beat by the Diamondbacks, and the Braves got beat by the Phillies. This left the Astros as the best competition for the Rangers. It went all the way to the end of game 7 and the Rangers miraculously pulled out the victory. Then the Rangers were able to easily beat the
Diamondbacks 4-1 in the World Series. The up-and-down nature of the Rangers season made it very interesting to follow and they were able to show fans how a combination of young talent with veteran leadership is what’s needed for a World Series ring.
