2023 World Series
The 2023 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's 2023 season, and the 119th edition of the World Series. It was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks and the American League champion Texas Rangers. The series began on October 27 and ended on November 1 with Texas winning in five games. The Rangers won their first World Series title since their founding in 1961 and relocation to the DFW metroplex in 1971. This marked the first time since 1989 in which consecutive championships were won by different teams from the same state.
The Diamondbacks and Rangers entered the 2023 MLB postseason as wild cards, making this the third World Series meeting between two wild cards following 2002 and 2014. The Rangers had home-field advantage in the series due to their better regular season record. The Rangers and Diamondbacks split the first two games in Texas before the Rangers won three consecutive games in Arizona to win the series. Corey Seager won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award for the second time in his career.
Background
This was the first postseason meeting between the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Both teams lost over 100 games in 2021. The teams' 174 combined wins is the lowest ever total for a non-shortened season World Series. This was the first World Series between one team that has never won in any prior appearances and another team that has never lost in any prior appearances. This was the third time in World Series history that the two teams that faced each other were both from the Expansion era, the first coming in 2015 and the second in 2019. This was the fifth straight World Series to have games played in a venue in Texas, with Houston co-hosting in 2019, 2021, and 2022, and Arlington hosting in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, this was the only World Series from 2017-2025 to not feature either the Houston Astros or Los Angeles Dodgers.The Diamondbacks won the regular season series 3–1, splitting a two-game series in May at Globe Life Field, and sweeping the Rangers at Chase Field in August. MLB has paired Arizona and Texas as interleague rivals from 1998 to 2000 and in 2013, 2019, and since 2023. As such, this was just the second World Series since the invention of interleague to feature natural rivals, joining the 2000 World Series between the New York Mets and New York Yankees.
This was the sixth World Series overall to be played entirely on artificial turf. Before 2023, the most recent of the six to be played in the two home team's stadiums was the 1993 World Series. However, the last "all-artificial turf" overall before 2023 had been at the neutrally located 2020 World Series, with all games played at Globe Life Field, in which the first two games of 2023 were also played. The 2023 Series is the second World Series to be played entirely on the second generation artificial turf. Finally, this was the second World Series ever to be played entirely in domed stadiums after the neutral site 2020 World Series. It was the first to be played between two domed stadium teams with each hosting games.
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Diamondbacks were just two seasons removed from a 110–loss season, which included an MLB-record 24 straight road losses. They had an uneven regular season in 2023, which included extreme highs and lows. At their peak in mid-June, they were 41–25 and leading the NL West. At their lowest, they had a 32-game stretch, where from early–July to mid–August, they went 7–25, a.219 win percentage, and had fallen to 57–59. They were led by a young core consisting of Corbin Carroll, Zac Gallen, Gabriel Moreno, Alek Thomas, and Geraldo Perdomo, along with veterans Ketel Marte, Merrill Kelly, Christian Walker, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Tommy Pham, and Evan Longoria. The Diamondbacks team finished second in MLB in stolen bases behind the Cincinnati Reds, including 56 from Carroll. They were also the best defensive team during the season, committing the fewest errors in the regular season with 56 and tied for first with the Rangers with the best fielding percentage at.990.The Diamondbacks qualified for the postseason as the sixth seed wild card entrant in the National League. In the Wild Card Series, they swept the third-seeded and National League Central division winner Milwaukee Brewers. In the Division Series, they swept and upset the National League West division winner, second-seeded, and 100-win Los Angeles Dodgers. In the National League Championship Series, they defeated the fourth-seeded and defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies in seven games to win their second National League pennant and make it to the World Series for the first time since 2001. The 2023 Diamondbacks’ 84 wins were the fewest of any pennant winner since the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals, who won the pennant with only 83 wins, and became just the fourth team to win a league pennant with 85 or fewer wins. The Diamondbacks also joined the 1987 Twins as the only two teams to win a pennant with a negative run differential. Arizona's revamped bullpen of Ryan Thompson, rookie Andrew Saalfrank, setup man Kevin Ginkel, and closer Paul Sewald, had a combined 1.45 ERA in 31 innings of work in the postseason entering the World Series.
At 125–1 preseason odds, Arizona had the third-longest odds to make a World Series since 1985 and longest since the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008, which Diamondbacks player Evan Longoria was also part of during his rookie season. Additionally, the 15-year gap between Longoria's first and second World Series appearances from 2008 to 2023 is the longest for a position player in MLB history.
Texas Rangers
For the 2022-2023 off-season, the Rangers spent heavily on a pitching staff that ranked near the bottom of the league in 2022, by signing Jacob deGrom to a five-year, $185 million deal, bringing back Martin Pérez on a qualifying offer and signing Andrew Heaney to a two-year contract. During the regular season, the Texas Rangers got off to a historic start in their first 40 games, outscoring their opponents, 254-157, while going 25-15. Mid-season injuries to staff-aces Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi and subpar performance in the bullpen led the Rangers to acquire closer Aroldis Chapman, middle reliever Chris Stratton, and starting pitchers Jordan Montgomery and Max Scherzer. Despite leading the AL West for most of the season, poor play late in the year saw the team finish second in the division behind the Houston Astros; the teams had identical win-loss records, but Houston owned a better head-to-head record. They were led by an AL-best offense in runs scored and were tied with the Minnesota Twins in home runs. The Rangers also led the AL at the All-Star Game with six players in Adolis García, Jonah Heim, Josh Jung, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, and Eovaldi.The Rangers qualified for the postseason as the fifth seed wild card entrant in the American League just two years removed from a 102-loss season. In the Wild Card Series, they swept the fourth-seeded Tampa Bay Rays. In the Division Series, they swept the American League East division winner and top-seeded Baltimore Orioles. In the American League Championship Series, they defeated their division rival and defending World Series champion Houston Astros in seven games to win their third American League pennant in franchise history. The Rangers made it to the World Series for the first time since 2011, where they lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. The Rangers were heading in as the favorites to win the series for the first time all postseason while also seeking their first World Series title in franchise history, which would put an end to their World Series championship title drought of 62 seasons since their franchise began, the second-longest active championship drought in Major League Baseball behind the Cleveland Guardians, and the oldest active franchise without a World Series title. This also marked a return to the World Series for three-time World Champion Bruce Bochy, who was looking to tie Walter Alston and Joe Torre for fourth on the list of World Series victories for managers.
Texas came into the season with 50–1 betting odds, which was tied for the seventh-longest odds to make a World Series since 1985.
Summary
Matchups
Game 1
R&B singer H.E.R. sang the national anthem. Former President of the United States and former Rangers part-owner George W. Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch to former Rangers Hall of Fame catcher Iván Rodríguez. Nathan Eovaldi was the starting pitcher for Texas, while Zac Gallen started for Arizona.Texas's Evan Carter hit a double off the base of the right field wall to score Corey Seager. Adolis García scored Carter with a single, making it 2–0 Texas. In the top of the third, with runners on second and third, Corbin Carroll tripled, scoring both runners and tying the game. Ketel Marte scored Carroll on a fielder's choice, giving Arizona a one-run lead. The Rangers loaded the bases in the bottom of the third, where Gallen walked Mitch Garver to tie the game at three. Gallen limited the damage as Jonah Heim flied out to end the inning. In the top of the fourth, Tommy Pham hit a solo home run, which gave Arizona a lead they would not give up until the bottom of the ninth. In the fifth, Marte added on a run for Arizona with a double that scored Geraldo Perdomo and took Eovaldi out of the game. In the bottom of the sixth, Gallen was replaced with Ryan Thompson. After Thompson walked Heim, Nathaniel Lowe hit a towering fly ball that was caught by Carroll on the warning track. If the ball had been hit out, it would have tied the game. Thompson was able to get out of the jam by striking out Leody Taveras. Arizona relievers Joe Mantiply and Kevin Ginkel kept the seventh and the eighth innings scoreless.
Will Smith retired the side in the top of the ninth, sending the game to the bottom of the ninth, where closer Paul Sewald was sent in to record the final three outs for Arizona. With Arizona still leading 5–3, Sewald gave up a leadoff walk to Taveras before striking out Marcus Semien. The next batter, Seager, hit a towering two-run home run to right field to tie the game at five. It was Sewald's first blown save of this postseason in seven opportunities; however, he then struck out Carter and Austin Hedges to send the game to extra innings. José Leclerc retired the side in the top of the tenth. The bottom of the tenth started well for Texas, with Kyle Nelson giving up a leadoff walk to Lowe. However, Josh Jung grounded into a double play. Nelson then walked Taveras and gave up a single to Semien, but got the hero of the ninth inning, Seager, to ground out, ending the inning. Leclerc once again retired the side in the top of the eleventh, giving Texas another chance to walk it off. After getting Carter to fly out in the bottom of the inning, Nelson was replaced with Miguel Castro, who was sent in to face García. On a 3–1 count, Garcia hit a walk-off home run to right field to win the game for Texas. With the home run, García recorded his 22nd RBI of the postseason, breaking the record for RBIs in a postseason, previously held by David Freese, who recorded 21 RBIs in the 2011 postseason.