The 5 Moments that put the Texas Rangers into the 2023 World Series

The Texas Rangers are in the World Series. I find myself having that thought several times since Texas won game seven. It is still amazing that a team this flawed that had so many serious issues throughout the season is now four wins away from winning their first World Series. It is not a miracle they are where they are, but it was also very unlikely. Before we move on to discussing the upcoming series between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks, I want to recap their journey to get to this point. There were many moments that contributed to this run. These five in my mind were the most important to this improbable run.

#1 Jordan Montgomery's Belly Flop

Texas had just lost the last game of the season to lose the division and had to travel cross country to take on the 99-win Tampa Bay Rays. Texas could have been dejected and gone through the motions. They could have easily been swept and seen their season end in two days to a superior Tampa Bay team. That was until the second inning of game one. Texas had just taken a 1-0 lead on a Josh Jung sacrifice fly.

Jordan Montgomery took the ball looking for a shutdown inning. He allowed two of the first three batters to reach on singles. There were runners on first and third with just one out. Speedster Jose Siri came up to the plate. On the second pitch Jose Siri bunted a 93mph fastball straight up in the air. Nathaniel Lowe was too far away at first to make a play on the ball and Jonah Heim had to stay to cover home. Montgomery took off from the mound and as he neared the first base line he did this.

He made the catch!!! If there was any feeling of dejection from this team it was wiped away when they saw their best pitcher sprawl out and make that play. He then followed that play with a strikeout of Rene Pinto to end the inning. He was not really threatened after that. He threw seven scoreless innings in this game and Texas got a 4-0 win.