After more than five decades since moving to Arlington in 1972, the Texas Rangers have finally won their first World Series championship.
Up 3-1 with a chance to close out the series on the road, Texas beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game to clinch the World Series 4-1. The Rangers extended their MLB postseason record of going 11-0 on the road in a single postseason.
Seager claimed the MVP award, becoming just the fourth player in MLB history to win multiple World Series MVP Awards after multiple clutch plays throughout.
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And that's what the postseason is all about: the margins and moments. The Diamondbacks logged more hits than Texas in each of the last two games but they couldn’t capitalize, whereas the Rangers did more with less with players like Seager hitting opportune home runs.
That was the case yet again for Arizona in Game 5 for more than half of the contest. The D-backs had runners in scoring position in every inning up to the fifth. Meanwhile, the Rangers didn’t have a single hit through six innings. Yet the scoreboard still read 0-0.
Starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi got into trouble in the fifth when the Diamondbacks loaded the bases, but he escaped unscathed.
Two innings later, Texas logged three straight hits off the previously flawless Zac Gallen, eventually getting a run from Seager via Evan Carter’s RBI single to center.
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Things got dicey in the eighth when Texas loaded the bases against Kevin Ginkel, but the 29-year-old also didn’t allow a run.
But Paul Sewald had a nightmare ninth inning and couldn’t keep the lead to just 1-0. Instead, Texas rallied three straight hits that brought in two runs. Jonah Heim’s single to center brought home Josh Jung and Nathaniel Lowe after Alek Thomas crucially couldn’t scoop the ball.
Marcus Semien then stepped up and delivered a two-run homer to pad the lead to 5-0. Arizona’s last inning ended in two strikeouts and a foul out with Josh Sborz pitching for Texas. Everything that could've went wrong...went wrong.
Texas made the World Series in consecutive years in 2010 and 2011, but just couldn't get the job done. The Rangers in 2011 were one strike away (twice) from beating the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 6, but went on to lose that and Game 7.
This time, despite not having star outfielder Adolis Garcia for Games 4 and 5 due to injury, they flipped the script.
Manager Bruce Bochy won his fourth World Series title, the first three coming with the even-year San Francisco Giants in 2010, 2012 and 2014. He's the sixth manager in history with four titles under his belt. This was his first with Texas in his first season with the team.
Arizona last appeared in the World Series in 2001 when it won it all for the first time. But after earning the nickname the "Answerbacks" for some resilient performances leading up the World Series, the D-backs had no answer for Texas' clutch plays.