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.

#2 8th inning double play in Baltimore

Texas had to follow up the series in Tampa and head directly to Baltimore in what would end up being a two week long road trip. Game one was a close affair. Very low scoring and it was there for the taking for the Orioles. The score was 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth with Aroldis Chapman on the mound. A bullpen that blew 33 saves in the regular season was trying to lock down a one-run game on the road.

Chapman immediately started off by throwing eight of his first nine pitches for balls and walking the first two batters of the inning. That brought up Anthony Santander, who had hit a home run earlier in the game. He was in a position to tie the game or give the Orioles the lead. Chapman threw a 98mph fastball in the middle of the zone for strike one. Then on the second pitch he followed up with a pitch near the bottom of the zone. Santander swung and made contact with the pitch and hit a ground ball right to Josh Jung.

He immediately threw it to Marcus Semien at second who then made the turn to first base to finish off the double play. Chapman then followed up with a strikeout of Ryan Mountcastle to end the inning and the threat from the Orioles.

#3 Evan Carter's catch and Jose Altuve's blunder

The third play on this list is you guessed it a defensive play. This one was not just an outstanding defensive play it is also a baserunning blunder in a critical part of the game. This occured in game one of the ALCS against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. The park that has the quirky left field with the giant wall and a cutout the juts into deep left center field. Evan Carter started game one in his first game ever in that stadium. It is a tricky left field for even the most veteran players. Carter said he received tips from Robbie Grossman and Travis Jankowski on how to play balls off the wall and where to be positioned to make a play in that deep left center wall.

He played spectacular in left field throughout game one. He had catch at the wall early on and he made a fantastic catch running into foul territory in that game. Nothing compared to what happened in the eighth inning of game one. Texas was up 2-0 with Chapman on the mound. He was trying to get through the eighth to get the game to Leclerc in the ninth. He started off again with a lead off walk of Jose Altuve. That brought Alex Bregman to the plate. Chapman went 2-1 against Bregman. Then on the fourth pitch Bregman hit a slider that was down and away all the way to the wall in deep left center field. Carter went around the giant wall and got to the deeper wall in time to jump up and,

Carter made the catch. Unbeknownst to him though while that was happening Altuve had made his way all the way to second base trying to score the first run of the game for Houston. Had Carter not made the catch Altuve would have easily scored. Altuve took one step on second base and then took a step on the third base side of the bag. When Carter made the catch Altuve took his next step back toward first but did not retouch second. Semien and Jung noticed immediately. Carter relayed the ball back in and Semien emphatically stepped on second. The ump ruled him safe, but upon replay review Altuve was called out. Chapman then got Alvarez to ground out to end the inning. Leclerc was then able to close it out in the ninth giving Texas a 1-0 series lead.

That play just showed off the athleticism of Evan Carter and how spectacular of a defender he is, but also displayed the baseball IQ of Marcus Semien to be on the lookout for that. Instead of having to face Alvarez with the tying run on first and one out, Chapman got to face him with two outs and no one on base. It was a decisive play in another close game and showed that Texas does have the ability to win close games.

#4 Mitch Garver's Solo home run in game 6

I decided not to go with Garcia's grand slam here, even though that will be the more memorable play. I could have went with Heim's home run that was just out of the reach of Kyle Tucker. I chose Mitch Garver's second inning home run. It was just one run but it was still very important. Houston won game five as we all know with Altuve's ninth inning three-run home run. It was devestating to a fan base that still vividly remembers game six of the 2011 World Series and then not so much about game seven. Texas needed to get off to a good start to extend their season. Instead they went down quietly against Framber Valdez. Then Houston scored in the first to take an early 1-0 lead.

Texas needed a quick response and Mitch Garver provided it. He went deep on the first pitch he saw from Framber Valdez. He took him deep to right field and out.

Texas immediately tied the game. Any doubts about their ability to respond to the game five loss were dismissed. Nathan Eovaldi settled into the game and Texas would take the lead on Heim's home run and then finished it off with Garcia's ninth inning grand slam. Any doubts among the fan base were dismissed with Garver's home run.