Lone Rangers: For first time, Texas the last team standing

PHOENIX -- As an 85 mph curveball left Josh Sborz’s hand and hit the corner of the zone for a called third strike, shortstop Corey Seager jumped into the arms of second baseman Marcus Semien.

The two business-like middle infielders let the emotions flow. They converged in the middle of the infield as teammates spilled out of the dugout to celebrate the end of one of the longest World Series droughts in baseball. After 51 agonizing years in North Texas -- and an additional 11 seasons in Washington, D.C., as the Senators -- the Texas Rangers are the World Series champions after defeating the D-backs in five games, clinching the title with a 5-0 victory in Game 5 on Wednesday at Chase Field.

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“Any World Series is great, but to be able to win it for Texas, that first one, it's incredible,” said Alvin, Texas, native Nathan Eovaldi. “It's hard for me to put it into words. I feel like I'm just rambling. But it’s very special to me.”

The Rangers underwent a dramatic rebuilding process over the last few years, spending the back half of the 2010s and the early part of the 2020s as American League bottom feeders. The front office and ownership committed to spending money on franchise cornerstone players like Seager, Semien and Eovaldi.

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They signed up for a vision, something that was far from complete at the time they committed to the Rangers.

“When I found out they had never won here, that was something that intrigued me -- to be able to start at the bottom and try and build something and compete and to be able to do it, it's really satisfying,” Seager said after winning his second career World Series MVP Award.

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“But it was a lot of trust. A lot of trust from them to me and me to them, and a lot of trust for Marcus to come, a lot of trust for Jon [Gray] -- all these guys that came here and had the same vision. It's pretty cool to see it through.”

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The clinching win came on the back of Eovaldi, who was part of a trio of starting pitchers the Rangers signed to anchor the rotation this past offseason.

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Eovaldi walked the tightrope all night, expertly navigating through traffic as he allowed five walks and four hits over six innings, but he matched Arizona ace Zac Gallen zero for zero. It’s hard to outduel an opposing pitcher who carries a no-hitter into the seventh inning in the World Series, but if anybody could do it, “Big Game Nate” was the man for the job.

“Clinch and win,” Eovaldi said about what was on his mind. “When you have the moment and I have the opportunity to take the ball out there on the mound, I know how successful we’ve been when I’m out there on the mound. It just gives me that extra confidence, and it’s about going out there and attacking the zone and getting outs as fast as possible. A lot of credit again goes to our offense. … It was only a matter of time for our offense to come through and score some runs for us.”

The Rangers finally broke the 0-0 stalemate in the seventh inning, when back-to-back hits from Seager and rookie sensation Evan Carter set up a big RBI single from Mitch Garver. Texas never looked back.

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“It’s unbelievable, honestly,” Garver said. “We're standing here at the end, we're on the top and it's been a long year. A lot of ups and downs, but it starts from the top down and the 26 guys in that locker room, it’s just an unbelievable group.”

Now two years removed from 102 losses in 2021, the Rangers came out on top.

The Rangers swept through the two best teams in the American League in the Rays in the Wild Card Series and the Orioles in the ALDS. They reigned victorious in a Texas-sized ALCS matchup with the Astros, defeating the defending World Series champions in seven games behind a historic performance from Adolis García.

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The franchise began in 1961, as the Washington Senators, posting just one winning season before relocating to the Metroplex in 1972 and rebranding as the Texas Rangers. But it wasn’t smooth sailing from there.

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Texas didn’t make the postseason for the first time until 1996. The Rangers didn’t even win their first postseason series until 2010, when they made it all the way to the World Series before falling to Bruce Bochy’s Giants. The Rangers were then one win away -- one pitch away -- from a World Series title on two separate occasions in 2011.

Nothing will ever truly exorcize the demons of 2011 and the World Series that slipped through the Rangers’ fingers on the biggest stage. But this group didn’t let the ghosts of the past hang over it.

“2011 means nothing to these guys,” said pitching coach Mike Maddux, who was with the Rangers in 2010-11. “2023 means everything. And God bless ‘em. Holy cow.”

In the clubhouse, the celebration reigned. Bottles were popped and buckets of beer were thrown on various teammates. A group of relievers poured Budweiser over the Commissioner's Trophy. The Rangers could finally celebrate the big one.

“I'm still new here,” Semien said of ending the drought. “This is Year Two and we’ve already won one thing. We set the tone for what we want to do moving forward. A lot of these players here are going to be here next year. The front office is going to want it more and more and more. We finally got a taste. So we set the tone.”