Editor’s Note: At time of publication, the 2023 World Series is tied 1-1.
It has been a wild and unpredictable 2023 Major League Baseball season, and the playoffs certainly haven’t been disappointing. But now, after a hard-fought seven months and nearly 200 games, the field of 30 teams hoping to win it all has been cut down to just two. The American League champions, the Texas Rangers, will take on the National League winners, the Arizona Diamondbacks, in a best-of-seven series for the Commissioner’s Cup and the title of 2023 World Series Champions.
After missing the playoffs for six consecutive seasons, the Rangers made a splash in the offseason by signing two-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, as well as hiring three-time World Series winning manager Bruce Bochy. However, deGrom was injured early in the year, forcing him to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery and relegating the Rangers to a middle-of-the-pack pitching rotation.
Instead, the Rangers have been forced to find their success this season through their offense. The 1-2 punch of Marcus Semien and Corey Seager has been dominant, and the rest of the lineup has been very effective. The Rangers finished the regular season in the top three in runs scored, hits, RBIs, and home runs.
In spite of the Rangers’ offensive prowess, the road to the World Series came with its challenges, the most daunting of which was their AL West rivals. Not only did Texas have to play 13 games against the defending World Series Champions, the Houston Astros, but they had another 13 against the Seattle Mariners, a young and explosive team who made a playoff run last season. While the Rangers established themselves as the top dogs in the AL West early in the season, leading the division by as many as 6.5 games in June, a poor month of July and losses in four of their final six games caused them to fall into a tie with the Astros. Since the Astros held the tiebreaker, the Rangers not only squandered their first-round bye but also had to face the 99-win Tampa Bay Rays in a three-game series on the road.
But Bruce Bochy is no stranger to magical playoff runs. In each of his three World Series wins with the San Francisco Giants, his team overcame improbable odds to win it all — a trend that is continuing this season. After sweeping the Rays, the Rangers went on to sweep the top-seeded Baltimore Orioles, setting them up once again against their biggest rivals, the Houston Astros, in a seven-game series. And, after trailing 3–2 in the series, the Rangers won the final two games on the road to win the series and earn their ticket to the World Series.
The Rangers now face the NL champions, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Just two short years ago, the Diamondbacks lost 110 games and seemed doomed to a long rebuilding process. But that rebuild has gone better than anyone could have imagined. With All-Star pitcher Zac Gallen having his best season yet and NL Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll raking in well over 100 runs scored, this young and talented roster showed they have what it takes to take on just about anyone in the league.
Coming into the season, the Diamondbacks had an uphill battle just to get to the playoffs. Long season series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and San Francisco Giants loomed large, and beating just one of these teams in the NL West standings seemed like enough of a win in itself. But the Diamondbacks surprised everyone, holding the division lead going into the month of July.
Like the Rangers, July was not the Diamondbacks’ friend. Their batters slumped and regressed into one of the lowest scoring teams in the league. Their 8–16 record throughout the month put them out of first place in the NL West and in the middle of a fierce Wild Card battle.
But the Diamondbacks stayed strong, and despite climbing in and falling back out of the playoff picture throughout August and September, they ended their season in the sixth and final playoff spot in the National League.
Once the playoffs started, any concerns about the Diamondbacks’ offense were quickly diminished. They made quick work of the three-seed Milwaukee Brewers, setting up a clash with their biggest rivals in the Dodgers. However, the Diamondbacks continued to dominate by not only sweeping the Dodgers, but also winning 4–3 in a fierce NLCS against the reigning NL Champion Philadelphia Phillies. The Diamondbacks heated up at the right time in all facets of the game, and now seem more poised than ever to take the Commissioner’s Cup back to Arizona.
So who’s going to be our next World Series Champions? The Diamondbacks are a young team with little-to-no playoff experience prior to this year, which bodes well for the Rangers. But the Diamondbacks have already made it this far, showing that their youth may not be an issue. And with the Diamondbacks’ Gallen-Kelly-Pfaadt trio pitching well on the mound throughout the playoffs, even the red-hot Rangers offense may struggle to score. The Rangers got off to a good start, but we’ll see if they have what it takes to keep it up and take home their first World Series ring.
