Wow, a wild-card World Series
It’s Arizona against Texas, teams that lost 100 games just two years ago
How many people picked Arizona and Texas to meet in the World Series?
A Rangers-Diamondbacks matchup had 1,750to-1 odds when wagering opened last fall.
But in an era when 12 teams make the playoffs, sustained excellence over the six-month regular season has become a boarding pass, not the journey, leading to a long-shot Series that opens Friday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
“Once you get into the big dance, anything can happen,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said before Tuesday night’s 4-2 win at Philadelphia advanced Arizona to its first World Series since 2001. “Throw it all out the window. The teams that get in deserve to be in.”
All the glamour teams are watching at home: The Dodgers and Atlanta Braves stumbled in the division series, defending champion Houston was ousted by Texas, and the New York Yankees didn’t even make it to the postseason. Instead, baseball has its third allwild-card meeting.
What’s more, the Rangers and the Diamondbacks are each two years removed from last-place finishes and 100-loss seasons.
“I thought it would take a little more time,” Diamondbacks rookie outfielder Corbin Carroll said, after going three for four with two RBIs and two runs scored in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series. “So to be able to do it in this first year just makes it all the more special.”
Both prior all-wild-card World Series went seven games. The Angels beat the San Francisco Giants in 2002, and Bruce Bochy’s Giants defeated the Kansas City Royals in 2014 for their third title in five years.
Bochy, 68 and in his 26th year as a manager, joined the Rangers last October. He is going for his fourth title, which would tie Walter Alston and Joe Torre for fourth-most. All retired managers with three or more are in the Hall of Fame.
“It’s unreal that I’m here, to be honest,” Bochy said. “Sitting at the house for three years, and think, here I am going to a World Series.”
Texas has played 10,028 games without a title. That’s the second-longest drought behind Cleveland, which last won in 1948. The Rangers reached back-to-back World Series in 2010 and ’11 but lost to Bochy’s Giants and then to St. Louis.
Arizona’s only title was a memorable one, coming on Luis Gonzalez’s ninth-inning single off Yankees closer Mariano Rivera in Game 7 in 2001.
Texas, which made several splashy signings and trade-deadline acquisitions, headed into the playoffs with the sixth-highest payroll at $228 million. Arizona, whose biggest investment was in Carroll, was 20th at $127 million.
Both teams rallied on the road. It was the first time road teams won Games 6 and 7 in both leagues since the league championship series expanded to a best-ofseven in 1985.
Philadelphia, the defending NL champions, had been 12-2 at home over the last two postseasons — including 11-0 in NL playoff games. But the young Diamondbacks, who squeezed into the playoffs as the final NL wild card, completed their comeback from a 2-0 hole.
“They played great baseball,” Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber said. “There’s no way around it. Everyone’s got a sick feeling in their stomach. It’s not the way we pictured this thing ending.”
Rookie starter Brandon Pfaadt struck out seven in Game 7, and five relievers combined on five scoreless innings of one-hit ball. Paul Sewald pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save this postseason.
“You come into this building and beat us twice in this type of atmosphere, you’re doing some things right,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “They pitched well.”
Without Jacob deGrom following a season-ending elbow injury, the Rangers acquired Max Scherzer and Jordan Montgomery to join a rotation that included Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney. Eovaldi will start Game 1 against Arizona’s Zac Gallen.
Adolis García has seven homers and 20 RBIs in the playoffs, leading a Texas lineup also powered by 2020 World Series most valuable player Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Mitch Garver and Josh Jung.
Arizona’s rotation is led by Gallen, Merrill Kelly and Pfaadt, and its lineup is led by Carroll, NLCS MVP Ketel Marte, Christian Walker, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno. Lovullo, 58, is in his seventh season as manager and in the playoffs for the first time since his 2017 team was swept by the Dodgers in the division series. His staff includes bench coach Jeff Banister, the Rangers’ manager from 2015 to 2018.
Texas is 8-0 on the road in the postseason but has home-field advantage because it won 90 games to Arizona’s 84 — which could be the second-fewest for a World Series champion in a regular season behind the Cardinals’ 83 in 2006. The Diamondbacks split two games at Texas in May and swept a pair at home in August, including an 11-inning win on consecutive doubles by Geraldo Perdomo and Tommy Pham off Will Smith.