World Series Preview

By Billy Fallon

Diamondbacks Vs. Rangers

To whoever predicted this being the World Series matchup at the beginning of the year, either stop lying or buy a lottery ticket right now, you probably should’ve bought it back when it was over a billion, your luck would have been worth more. Two teams that finished well below .500 now sit on the precipice of immortality. So, let’s see how the teams got here.

Texas Rangers: 

What has gotten into the Rangers this postseason? We all knew they were good with Bruce Bochy turning a 68-94 team into a 90-72 ballclub that was in contention for the AL West the whole year, but they have exploded come playoff time. What surprises me most is that this team is without their biggest offseason acquisition in Jacob DeGrom and their blockbuster trade piece from the deadline in Max Scherzer until his return in the ALCS. This team also sports six all-stars in Josh Jung, Jonah Heim, Marcus Semien, ALCS MVP Adolis Garcia (who has been having a postseason for the ages), Nathan Eovaldi, and MVP candidate Corey Seager, but this group does not even mention, of all people, Evan Carter making his mark, nor their starter Jordan Montgomery, another deadline acquisition, who has been brilliant. What has surprised me the most is how solid they have been, as there were question marks about how their lineup would look as they started to falter towards the end of the regular season and how the pitching staff would hold up without Max Scherzer for most of the postseason. Yet the Rangers have shown they know how to play very efficient baseball and are a good team to watch, and this sparks from their historic AL West race at the end of the season. The West was a 3-way race that went down to the wire between the Rangers, Astros, and Mariners, and with only two spots available in the postseason, they would be awarded to the division winner and runner-up as the last days of the season dwindled away. At the end of September, the tension was high, as all three teams had to play each other in the final few weeks, which led to some of the most entertaining regular season games of the season. Fights broke out, trash-talking was prevalent, and great baseball was on display. When the dust settled, the Astros took the division crown on the last day with the Rangers taking the wild card spot despite having identical 90-72 records due to a tiebreaker. The Rangers obviously took this personally in their series, as a hard-fought seven-game series that included more fights and even suspensions saw them edge out the Astros and move onto the World Series, where we are now. The pedigree they showed after going 3-2 down to the Astros and coming back is impressive, and their momentum could very well carry into the next round. The Rangers’ display of brilliance so far has been impressive, and I look forward to seeing if they can capture their elusive first championship.

Arizona Diamondbacks:

From squeaking into being on the doorstep of greatness. The Dbacks’ journey to the Fall Classic has been shadowed in doubt. They only made the playoffs because in the 2022 season the 6th seed was created, and with an 84-78 record Arizona barely edged out the Cubs in the final few days of the regular season to return to the postseason for the first time since 2017. From there, no one expected them to beat Milwaukee, yet they breezed past them before sweeping the two-seeded 100-win Dodgers to advance to face the Phillies in the NLCS. After the first two games, including a 10-0 thrashing by the Phillies, they were once again counted out. But here they came, starting with a walk-off from NLCS MVP Ketel Marte to win 2-1 in Game 3. From there in Game 4, led by a pinch-hit Alek Thomas bomb, they squeaked by with a 6-5 win. They dropped game 5 and returned to Philadelphia where they won two straight on the road to send them to the World Series. What I like about the Diamondbacks the most is that they really don’t have a bonafide star player, which plays to their advantage in the postseason. While you could argue their star in Corbin Carroll, fresh off a Rookie of the Year worthy all-star campaign, it would be remiss not to include Ketel Marte in that conversation as well, and while he was snubbed from the all-star team with a .276 average to pair with 25 homers he has been on fire all postseason breaking records along the way, or you could go with Zac Gallen, their ace who earned his first all-star appearance while holding a 17-9 record with a 3.47 era. However, he has struggled his past couple of postseason starts. This is not even mentioning guys like all-star Geraldo Perdomo, Gabriel Moreno, Tommy Pham, and the currently struggling Christian Walker. In summary, their lack of a bonafide top player has worked to their advantage because they have been able to hit teams from all angles. While some elements have struggled, like the aforementioned cleanup hitter Christian Walker, along with some shaky starting pitching from their best starters in Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen, the overwhelming clutch ability their whole team has displayed has for the most part put those concerns at ease. They’re clearly the underdogs here, as they have been all postseason, but if they are able to pull this off, it will be an incredible feat, and I for one cannot wait to see what they can do on the big stage.

This year has been a crazy season of baseball. After adopting the world of pitch clocks, pickoff rules, bigger bases, and more rule changes, the game was more exciting than ever, and the postseason was no different. The atmosphere the entire postseason has been electric and so captivating to watch as a fan. I look forward to more great baseball ahead in this series, and I believe this is the perfect matchup to entertain us fans before the realization that there won’t be any more baseball for months afterward. Now it’s time to see what Texas and Arizona have to offer, and we as fans get to have the joy of sitting back and enjoying.