Ranking the 10 best bats in the World Series

Only two teams remain. Game 1 of the World Series is set for Friday night at Globe Life Field, where the Rangers will host the D-backs. Which team’s bats will reign supreme and slug their way toward a title?

The Rangers’ offense has been a force throughout 2023, when five of the team’s position players were All-Star Game starters. The club finished third in the Majors in OPS (.790) and runs per game (5.44) and tied for third in homers (233). That’s continued into October, with the latest example being a 20-run barrage to beat the Astros in Games 6 and 7 of the ALCS.

The D-backs were more of a middle-of-the-pack offense in 2023, albeit one with some dynamic threats at the top of the lineup. And in the playoffs, Arizona has been tenacious at the plate, storming back from early deficits against the Brewers in the NL Wild Card Series, stunning the Dodgers with some early ambushes in the Division Series and coming from behind in three of the team’s four Championship Series victories against the Phillies.

So who are these World Series lineups’ best bats? Our MLB.com voting panel considered track record and regular-season performance but leaned more heavily toward production this postseason in determining this latest edition of the Hitter Power Rankings.

1. Adolis García, Rangers
Watch some ALCS highlights and tell us who else could possibly take the top spot here. No, García is not, in a vacuum, the Rangers’ best hitter. He still swings and misses more than you’d like and strikes out quite a bit. But he also has the ability to take over a game -- and a series -- as he just did in earning ALCS MVP honors against the Astros. In his first crack at the postseason, García is slugging .750 with seven homers and 20 RBIs in 12 games. He needs two more RBIs to break David Freese’s single-postseason record, set in 2011.

2. Corey Seager, Rangers
Seager has delivered in the postseason before. He is one of nine players to grab MVP honors in the LCS and World Series in the same year, having done so with the Dodgers in 2020 (coincidentally, at Texas’ Globe Life Field). Now he’s doing it again, after a spectacular 2023 regular season. Seager boasts a playoff slash line of .333/.483/.644 with a 12-to-7 walk-to-strikeout ratio, and the mammoth homer he crushed in the first inning of ALCS Game 7 set the tone for a Rangers blowout.

3. Ketel Marte, D-backs
Under the radar for much of his career -- including the past seven seasons in Arizona -- the 30-year-old Marte is doing his best to become a household name this month. A switch-hitter, Marte produced one of his finest seasons in 2023 (.844 OPS, 25 homers), and he’s been Arizona’s offensive catalyst throughout these playoffs (.986 OPS). The NLCS MVP has set a record by hitting safely in each of his first 16 career postseason games, going back to 2017.

4. Corbin Carroll, D-backs
Carroll can create a lot of havoc for opponents, as the Phillies found out in Game 7 of the NLCS. The NL Rookie of the Year Award favorite went 3-for-4 with two steals and two runs scored, seemingly flying around the bases all night. While Carroll struggled in that series until the winner-take-all contest, he reached base safely 13 times in five games over the first two rounds.

5. Evan Carter, Rangers
Would the Rangers be here if Carter had not hit the ground running when he was promoted in September -- shortly after his 21st birthday -- and carried that into October? Probably not. With his power, speed, defensive ability and preternaturally keen eye at the plate, Carter has quickly become an essential part of the Texas lineup.

• Elite rookie hitters have been the catalyst all October

6. Gabriel Moreno, D-backs
Moreno’s 2023 season was impressive for a 23-year-old catcher getting his first extended taste of the Majors. Even though his power was limited, he made enough contact to produce at an above-average level (104 OPS+), all while excelling at the most demanding position on the field. But Moreno has been even better in the playoffs, slugging .512 and coming up with some huge hits. Per FanGraphs, he ranks fifth among hitters this postseason in win probability added.

7. Josh Jung, Rangers
A fractured left thumb Jung sustained in early August took him out of action for 37 games, and while he returned on Sept. 18, his numbers dipped significantly over the final two weeks of the season. That made it hard to know what to expect from the 25-year-old in the playoffs, but Jung has picked an opportune time to bounce back. He is slugging .600 in his first 12 career postseason games, with three homers and eight RBIs.

8. Mitch Garver, Rangers
That Garver finds himself on this list is a bit unexpected. Garver struggled last season, and he missed most of the first two months of 2023 with a left knee sprain. With Jonah Heim becoming the primary catcher, Garver did carve out a role as the Rangers’ regular DH, hitting .270/.370/.500 with 19 homers in 87 games. But he didn’t start any of the team’s first three postseason games. Garver hit a key grand slam in ALDS Game 2, however, and hasn’t left the lineup since, driving home 11 runs in nine games.

9. Marcus Semien, Rangers
It’s a bit jarring to see Semien so low on this list after a season in which he led the AL with 185 hits and 122 runs scored, coming within one big fly of a 30-homer, 100-RBI campaign. But while Semien should garner significant AL MVP support, the postseason has been a struggle (.507 OPS). Perhaps Semien’s three hits and three walks over the final two games of the ALCS foreshadow better things ahead in the World Series.

10. Lourdes Gurriel Jr., D-backs
His older brother Yuli has 27 World Series hits and two rings to his credit. Now it’s Lourdes’ turn in the spotlight. While he hasn’t enjoyed a huge postseason, he has played an important role in Arizona’s success. In the D-backs’ four NLCS victories, Gurriel went 6-for-15 with a home run and came through with a game-tying, seventh-inning double in Game 3.

Also receiving votes: Alek Thomas (D-backs), Nathaniel Lowe (Rangers), Christian Walker (D-backs), Geraldo Perdomo (D-backs)

Voters: David Adler, Brett Blueweiss, Paul Casella, Doug Gausepohl, Thomas Harrigan, Sarah Langs, Travis Miller, Ricardo Montes de Oca, Brian Murphy, Sweeny Murti, Manny Randhawa, Efrain Ruiz, Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru, Andrew Simon, David Venn