A Texas-sized celebration was shared amongst many Lone Star State baseball fans earlier this month when the Texas Rangers accomplished something that had never been achieved before: they secured their first ever World Series title.
As many Texas natives know, the Texas Rangers are based in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, where they call Globe Life Field in Arlington their home base. They have a long, complex history and franchise that has existed since 1961, yet for the past 63 years, they had never won their own baseball World Championship title – until now.
The Rangers postseason play was not particularly favored seeing that the Houston Astros were the winners of their section: the American League West Division. However, the Texas Rangers team miraculously made the cut to join the postseason starting bracket as a Wild Card team due to their game win-to-loss ratio being in the top three across the American League grouping.
For the past two months, the Texas Rangers had been climbing their way to the top of the podium. Fortunately, they started off their postseason strong with a sweep in the Wild Card series games against the Tampa Bay Rays with scores of 4 – 0 and 7 – 1.
The Rangers won the best of three games which allowed them to move up the bracket to the American League Divisional Series, where they would battle head-to-head against the Baltimore Orioles only a short three days later.
The Orioles put up a tough fight, but were slightly bested by the Rangers in each of the three games that were played – with the exception of the third game which was a Orioles blowout in lieu of the five runs that the Rangers acquired solely in the second inning of the game.
The following weekend, Texan baseball fans were in for a treat to see the Texas Rangers face off against their home state rival, the Houston Astros, who were up next in the bracket for the American League Championship Series.
Baseball fans who tuned into the World Series action this past year in 2022 are well aware of the fact that the Houston Astros walked away victorious with the 2022 World Series title after winning the best of six games against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Needless to say, the Rangers knew they would have to fight to emerge on top when competing against the reigning champions of the series. As ordered, the Texas Rangers came out swinging, which earned them a two game lead.
Unfortunately, the Rangers experienced a setback after the preliminary two victories, whereby the Astros fought back and walked away from the following three games victorious.
When it came down to the final two games for the American League Championship, the Texas Rangers realized the gravity of the situation. Yet through adversity, the Rangers managed to pick themselves up and win the final two games of the American League Champion series, which punched their ticket to the World Series.
Similar to the Rangers, the Arizona Diamondbacks started their journey to the World Series as one of the Wild Card teams for their separate league division: the National League. In a manner similar to the Rangers, the Arizona Diamondbacks climbed their way to the top of the podium, where they would become the Texas Rangers World Series competitor.
The Texas Rangers did not hold back their will to win, and in five games against the Diamondbacks, they achieved what was previously thought to be impossible: they walked away from the stadium on the night of Nov. 1 having won their first World Series title in franchise history.
The postgame celebrations by Texas Rangers fans were not only seen throughout the stands at the Arizona Diamondbacks stadium, Chase Field, but triumph and fireworks also rang loudly throughout the Rangers hometown arena, Globe Life Field. Seeing that they opened its doors for fans far and wide to view the game on the jumbotron screen, and to bask in the feeling of victory as the Rangers earned their first World Series Championship.
To put things into perspective, only two short years ago, the Texas Rangers lost a whopping 102 games by the end of their 2021 season, yet through incredible teamwork, skills, and grit, the Rangers had a complete turnaround to now hold the 2023 World Series title.
In addition, the Texas Rangers set a record by winning all of their postseason away games while traveling on the road, which besides being an incredible feat, ultimately helped them secure the World Series title.
Texas Rangers athletes Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Adolis Garcia, and Nathan Eovaldi are considerably the “most valuable players” across the World Series games, and the combined pitching, hitting, and skills of each player – in combination with their teammates – was crucial to the overall victory.
Moreover Corey Seager has officially been awarded his second Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet for his valiant homers and his impeccable shortstop finesse.
“I am beyond happy that the Rangers made it to postseason play and went a step-further to actually win the World Series. It has been a long time coming,” baseball admirer and long-time Texas Ranger fan, Olan Burnett declared. “To turn a team around that quickly after having 100+ losses to winning a world series is incredibly remarkable, and practically unheard of.”
For any future World Series face-offs, let the 2023 Texas Rangers be a lesson to baseball aficionados and the rest of Major League Baseball: a comeback does not necessarily need to be a long and slow process, it simply takes hard work, a devoted team and a decisive mindset.
For information regarding the 2023 World Series and the Texas Rangers, please visit www.mlb.com/postseason and www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/rangers-win-2023-world-series-texas-takes-out-diamondbacks-in-game-5-for-first-title-in-franchise-history/live/.