The 2023 World Series

The Texas Rangers won in five games over the Arizona Diamondbacks. I was thrilled by this, as the Rangers had never won a championship in their 63 years of existence. They were twice within a strike of winning in 2011 against the Cardinals, only to have it cruelly ripped away from them. This time, hpwever, they were not to be denied.

The first game was a classic, with the Rangers tying the game with a late-inning homer, and then winning in the 11th on another homer. The other four games were rather mundane by comparison.

MVP for the Series was Rangers shortstop Corey Seager, who honmered in three of the five games. He became only the fourth player to win two World Series MVP awards, and only the second position player, joining Reggie Jackson in this regard. (Seager had previously won in 2020 with the Dodgers, while Jackson won in 1973 with the A's, and in 1977 with the Yankees.)

A disappointment is the mediocre broadasting team which FOX Sports foisted on us. How I miss the halycon days when Joe Buck and Tim McCarver called the games! The pre-game and post-game team of ex-ballplayers was equally disappointing. The knowledgeable team at ESPN, folks like Tim Kurkjian and Karl Ravech, would have been light-years better than this group.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy made history by becoming only the third manager to take three different teams to the World Series (Bill McKechnie and Dick Williams being the first two). Well done, Bruce!

An oddity is that in this World Series the visiting team won every game. And, most impressive, the Rangers went an amazing 11-0 in the postseason as the visiting team!

Rangers second baseman and leadoff hitter Marcus Simien set an interesting record with the most plate apperances in a season (including postseason), in MLB history. He got to the plate an amazing 835 times! This was made possible by the enhanced playoff system in effect this year, but still an impressive record.