With both Championship Series concluded, it’s officially World Series time. The Rangers clinched their first American League pennant since 2011 while the Arizona Diamondbacks return for the second time in franchise history. The Rangers have yet to hoist a World Series trophy while Arizona looks to keep a perfect record, having won the title in their previous appearance in 2001.
Wood Word Sports Editor Vincent Goldschmidt and sports staffers Jack Biggs, John Downey Jr., Tom O’Keefe and Felix Lettini offer their picks for the Fall Classic.
Vincent’s Pick: Arizona Diamondbacks in 6
If you take a look back at my Preseason Awards Prediction, you can see I had some investment in the success of the Arizona Diamondbacks. But Texas has the better of the two lineups top to bottom. Pitching is a key component of a team’s success and Arizona has that. Even with ace Zac Gallen not performing to the peak of his ability, he’s been serviceable, while fellow starters Merrill Kelly and Brandon Pfaadt are dominating, including muffling the explosive Philadelphia offense in three of their combined four starts.
As well as the dominating rotation, the 7-8-9 inning combination of Ryan Thompson, Kevin Ginkel and Paul Sewald have been the truest form of lights out in the postseason, with Thompson being the only one to surrender a run.
As for the lineup, projected NL Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll served a key role in Game 7 of the NLCS, going 3 for 4 with a pair of crucial RBIs. At the top of the lineup, Ketel Marte has been their best performer, setting the NL postseason streak for most consecutive games with a hit to start a postseason career.
Coming off three major upsets, especially taking the NLCS in a borderline unwinnable environment, this Arizona team is a team of destiny and will bring home the second title in franchise history.
World Series MVP: Ketel Marte
Jack’s Pick: Texas Rangers in 7
As a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, I’ve been mentally checked out for the second half of the season. However, I was rooting for the Diamondbacks and Rangers in their respective Championship Series — the former due to them playing the Phillies and the latter because I enjoy a good underdog story. I believe the Texas Rangers will reign supreme in this matchup of southern powers.
Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi and southpaw Jordan Montgomery will continue their immaculate form. Though he hasn’t been amazing throughout the postseason, Max Scherzer will have a resurgence and put on a show against the team that drafted him in 2006. The Rangers will also need continued dominance from their relievers. Josh Sborz and “The Missile” Aroldis Chapman have been quality all postseason, and José Leclerc showed great resilience to win Game 6 of the ALCS after allowing a three-run homer in the closing stages of Game 5. Of course, the Rangers will bring other hurlers to the mound during the World Series, but these are the guys who the Diamondbacks will be watching out for.
A team can’t be the best if they’re only good on one side of the ball, and the Rangers have some of the hottest bats in baseball. Adolis Garcia has been on fire, setting a postseason record with 15 RBI in the ALCS. After being controversially hit by a pitch in Game 5, Garcia smashed a game-sealing grand slam in Game 6, giving him tons of momentum going into the World Series. Shortstop Corey Seager has also been exceptional, with a playoff batting average of .429. It will be a tough battle against an otherworldly Diamondbacks pitching core, but the Rangers have more than enough talent to give them a fight.
Both teams won their respective championship series in Game 7, and the series will once again go to a deciding seventh game. With both teams reaching the climax of their Cinderella stories, the Texas Rangers will prevail, giving them their much-deserved first World Series title since the team’s inception in 1961.
World Series MVP: Adolis Garcia
John’s Pick: Texas Rangers in 7
Baseball is always unpredictable. Just look at the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers in the World Series. This matchup was for sure not on the bingo card to start the 2023 campaign with the Diamondbacks being a team that was expected to continue its rebuild and maybe make the playoffs, which was the ceiling for them. But oh boy did they exceed those expectations. The Rangers, who signed a bunch of star players over the last two years and brought in Bruce Bochy, a decorated manager in the offseason, definitely expected to be in the postseason but then just dominated the postseason and took down their rival Astros.
Pitching, pitching, pitching is the name of the game when it comes to the postseason and even though both teams have had great pitching this postseason, the Rangers are just a little deeper in the rotation, which will give them the edge. The combo of Montgomery and Eovaldi have been great for the Rangers, with Montgomery making four superb starts and a Game 7 relief appearance. Eovaldi most likely will get the ball for Game 1 against the D-Backs and has made four quality starts himself. Now bring in Scherzer, who returned in the championship series and made two poor starts but will still bring his Hall of Fame and World Series pedigree to this series.
The key to the playoffs thus far was pitching, because this Rangers offense is loaded up and down behind Garcia, who had 15 RBI against the Astros and has 20 RBI since the wild card round. Garcia, who is my World Series MVP as well, will look to carry this Rangers team to another four wins.
At this point in the season, these athletes have been going 100% since January and will scratch and claw for just another two weeks so they can be on top of the world and call themselves the champions. It will be a fun and entertaining series, but it’s not quite the Diamondbacks time to shine just yet and with that it’s the Rangers in seven.
World Series MVP: Adolis Garcia
Tom’s Pick: Arizona Diamondbacks in 7
It may come as a surprise the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers are the two finalists in the World Series this season. It has been a decade since either of these teams have made it here. Looking back on the regular season, both teams were consistently decent and had winning records.
The Rangers, however, had the better overall record with 90 wins and 72 losses while the Diamondbacks had 84 wins and 78 losses. Looking back on the teams’ regular season records isn’t an important factor when it comes to making a prediction. Besides, the Diamondbacks were only down six games from the Rangers out of a 162-game season.
Throughout the regular season, both teams competed against each other a total of four times. Texas won the first matchup of the season with Arizona winning the next three. Regular season matchups are more important in picking a winner. In addition to this, during the regular season, both teams had higher than average ERAs. In the postseason, however, Arizona had the third best ERA, while Texas was fifth best. Texas’ top starters are Eovaldi and Montgomery while Arizonas’s top starters are Gallen and Kelly.
Determining a World Series champion comes down to records, pitching, offense, defense and so much more. In regular season matchups, the Diamondbacks absolutely dominated the Rangers. Because of this, it will be a close series with Arizona coming out on top.
World Series MVP: Ketel Marte
Felix’s Pick: Texas Rangers in 6
The Diamondbacks and Rangers in the World Series shows anything can happen in baseball. The Diamondbacks entered the postseason as the sixth seed and emerged with a chance to shock the world. By sweeping two division winners and coming out on top in a close battle with Philadelphia, the D-backs look to complete their magical run by lifting the World Series trophy. The only thing that stands in the Diamondbacks’ way are the Rangers.
The Rangers’ success this postseason relied heavily on pitchers Eovaldi and Montgomery. Each player has been trouble for the opposing team’s offense. Eovaldi has been great at striking out batters as he threw 28 during four postseason games. Besides Montgomery’s poor performance against the Orioles, he only allowed two runs in the other four games he played. The Rangers also have three-time Cy Young Award winner Scherzer ready to play. Scherzer’s slow start to the postseason might have been due to a thumb injury. The 39-year-old righty still expects to play the rest of the postseason. Scherzer helped the Nationals to a World Series victory back in 2019 and he looks to do the same for the Rangers.
The Rangers offense has been electric this postseason, scoring 20 runs in the last two games. This Rangers team is deep but the key player is Garcia. Garcia homered in the past four games and recorded seven homers so far. The right fielder played a major factor in the victory over the Astros in game seven. The two time All-Star went 4 for 5 with five RBI, three runs and two home runs. It is going to be interesting to see how the Diamondbacks will adjust to the Rangers offense and Garcia. The D-backs pitchers and defense have been excellent this postseason, so it should be an amazing battle.
The main question about the Diamondbacks has to be the offense. On paper, the D-backs cannot compare to the astonishing Rangers team. Once again, they have to depend on the pitching core to keep the series close. The Diamondbacks can only ask for so much of them, so the Rangers are going to capitalize. They will win their first World Series in team history in six games.
World Series MVP: Corey Seager
All stats are from MLB.com as of Oct 25
Contact the writers: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
