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Five defining 2023 Texas Rangers moments that led to a World Series title

From an Opening Day setback to a record All-Star night, the Rangers’ journey to hoist the The Commissioner’s Trophy can be tracked all seasosn.

It’s about the journey, not the destination, right?

Try telling that to the Texas Rangers, who lifted the franchise’s first-ever World Series trophy on Wednesday night at Chase Field after a 5-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 5. The destination looks pretty sweet.

But the Rangers wouldn’t be there without the journey.

What a journey it was.

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Here are five defining moments from the Rangers’ 2023 season that laid the groundwork for Wednesday’s celebration.

A tone-setting Opening Day win

Well, there it was. Another early deficit on Opening Day. Another deflating start to the regular season. Another slice of same-old, same-old when the Philadelphia Phillies jumped on Jacob deGrom for five runs in the game’s first three innings at Globe Life Field.

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Then Texas went out and set the tone for the rest of the 2023 season.

The Rangers scored nine fourth-inning runs — two on a Jonah Heim double, three on a Robbie Grossman home run and another four on singles from Nathaniel Lowe and Adolis García — to take a commanding lead and anchor an 11-7 win against the reigning NL champions.

It was the first time since 2020 that the Rangers had ended the day with a record above .500. It showed that this offense could score in bunches. It showed that, at the very least, they could compete with the league’s best. It showed that they wouldn’t just roll over, either.

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“You can’t win a World Series today,” Lowe said after the season-opening win, “but you surely can make a statement.”

Nathan Eovaldi responds to adversity with shutout vs. Yankees

The Rangers’ march to the postseason and World Series became marked by resiliency. There might not have been a word more commonly uttered than that by manager Bruce Bochy, general manager Chris Young and the players from the season’s start to finish.

There might not have been a better example of resiliency than this one.

DeGrom, the Rangers’ long-sought-after ace, landed on the injured list with an inflamed right elbow on April 29. The Rangers didn’t know then — though, they surely feared for the case — but deGrom wouldn’t pitch again in 2023. Season-ending surgery wiped him out a month later. The $185 million man that Texas had built its rotation around went down for the count after six starts.

What a gut punch.

Nathan Eovaldi, signed by the Rangers that previous offseason, punched back.

Eovaldi went out that evening and pitched a complete game shutout against the New York Yankees in front of a sold-out Globe Life Field crowd. The performance created palpable momentum for what turned into a historic month of May. It also established Eovaldi, in the wake of deGrom’s absence, as the staff’s ace.

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It also gave the Rangers their first real taste of adversity, something they’d face — and overcome — when Corey Seager, Josh Jung, Garcia, Heim and Eovaldi himself missed time in the season’s second half.

“Good teams respond when you are tested,” Young said before that game.

American League outfielder Adolis García, of the Texas Rangers, (53) grabs a fly ball by...
American League outfielder Adolis García, of the Texas Rangers, (53) grabs a fly ball by National League's Ronald Acuña Jr., of the Atlanta Braves, during the first inning of the MLB All-Star baseball game in Seattle, Tuesday, July 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)(Lindsey Wasson / ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Rangers show how a contender was built at the All-Star game

The Rangers made modern history in the second inning of July’s All-Star game when second baseman Marcus Semien, Eovaldi, Seager, Jung, Heim and García all shared the field at the same time. It marked the first time since 1951 a team had six players in the All-Star Game at one time, according to research by Elias Sports Bureau. The six All-Stars — five of whom were starters — marked a franchise record.

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It also showed how Texas built itself a World Series contender.

You had Seager, Semien and Eovaldi, three free agents worth more than $530 million in contract dollars. You had Heim, a throw-in from a trade two seasons prior who developed into one of baseball’s best catchers. Then there was Jung — a first-round pick who broke out into an All-Star in his rookie season — and García, a savvy find off of the scrap heap who became the heart, soul and muscle of the Rangers.

Look at how that all worked out.

“Potential,” Jung said when he was named to the AL roster. “That’s all it really says. It’s just one half. We’ve got a lot more in front of us.”

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A weekend of missed opportunities sends Texas on the road

Clinching a playoff berth was supposed to be the hard part, yeah?

Sure. Except it only got harder from there.

So, yes, Texas clinched its first postseason appearance in seven years with a 6-1 win over the Seattle Mariners in the regular season’s second-to-last game. They celebrated. Popped a little champagne. Caught some flack for it, too, which looks a bit foolish in hindsight.

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The season’s final weekend, though, felt dictated by what the Rangers didn’t accomplish, and what it, in turn, sparked. Texas needed to at least split the four-game series against the Mariners to clinch the AL West title. It lost three of four. The Rangers could’ve locked up a first-round bye had they won in Game 162. They lost 1-0.

It means that the Rangers, now a wild card team, had to play the postseason’s first two series on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles. It might’ve been the kick in the rear end that Texas needed. The Rangers won 11 consecutive playoff games on the road — a MLB record — and just two at Globe Life Field en route to the franchise’s first title.

Hey, maybe missing out on a division title wasn’t the worst thing after all.

“You are going to be tested. That’s going to happen,” Bochy said after the clinching win. “That’s not the question. The question is how you respond. They have always responded.”

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Game 5 could’ve sank them. It didn’t

Add it to the list of heartbreaking postseason memories for the Rangers.

Houston’s Jose Altuve, in the top of the ninth inning in Game 5 of the ALCS, belted a three-run home run off of Jose Leclerc to clinch a 5-3 Astros win and a 3-2 lead in the league championship series. If Texas had any hopes of advancing to the World Series, it would need to win Games 6 and 7 at Minute Maid Park against the reigning champions.

After a crushing home defeat. Not to mention the benches-clearing fracas that broke out one inning before Altuve’s home run.

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How can you even get back up off the mat after that?

Pretty well, turns out. The Rangers went down to Houston two days later and won Game 6 by a 9-2 margin. Eovaldi was brilliant. García’s ninth-inning grand slam shifted the momentum of the series entirely and established him as the ALCS MVP frontrunner.

It gave the Rangers life.

Maybe that’s all they needed.

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“This is everything we could hope for,” GM Young said. “But we’ve still got unfinished business.”

They took care of that in Game 7 against the Astros.

Then again in five games against the Diamondbacks.

Consider the business finished.

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On Twitter/X: @McFarland_Shawn

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