Here are some fun facts about the World Series as the Rangers and Diamondbacks prepare to face off
The 2023 World Series is set, to the surprise of many fans. The National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks will square off against the American League’s Texas Rangers in one of the most unlikely matchups in the history of the Fall Classic.
The first game in the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Oct. 27 at the Rangers' Globe Life Field in Arlington. Both teams battled through three rounds of playoffs to get to this point, defying the predictions of many experts along the way. So, what exactly makes this year’s World Series unlike any other? Read on to find out.
Seeding is (not) believing
You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who correctly guessed these would be the last two teams standing. The Rangers entered the playoffs as the No. 5 seed in the American League and the Diamondbacks are the No. 6 seed in the National League.
The playoff bracket expanded to six teams in each league in 2022 (although there was an eight-team field in each league in the 2020 COVID season), but there was already precedent for this kind of low-seed success: Last year, the Philadelphia Phillies, who lost to the Diamondbacks in the recent National League Championship Series, were the No. 6 seed and made it all the way to the World Series, where they lost to the Houston Astros.
The lowest seed to win the World Series was the 2014 San Francisco Giants, who won it all as the No. 5 seed over the Kansas City Royals. Interestingly, the Giants were managed that year by Bruce Bochy, who just so happens to be the Rangers skipper this season.
Wins don’t come easy
The Rangers won 90 games this season to finish in second place in the American League West, and the Diamondbacks won 84 to finish in second place in the National League West. The 174 victories are the fewest combined wins ever among World Series participants in a full season.
“Not including the 1918, 1981, and 2020 World Series (due to shortened seasons), it does look like this is the lowest combined regular season wins since the start of the modern World Series in 1903,” the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum told TODAY.com in an email.
The ugly century mark
Neither the Rangers nor the D-backs are too far removed from serious on-field struggles. In fact, each team lost 100 games in 2021.
No team has ever made the World Series after a 100-loss season, but the Diamondbacks and Rangers join the 1914 Boston Braves, 1967 Boston Red Sox, 1969 New York Mets and 2008 Tampa Bay Rays as the only teams to reach the Fall Classic two seasons after dropping 100 games, according to MLB.com. This is the first time both teams playing in the World Series are two years removed from a 100-loss campaign.
Of that group, only the Braves and Mets won the World Series. Arizona or Texas is guaranteed to join that list.
Reversal of fortune
Yes, 2021 was dreadful for both teams, but it’s not like they set the world on fire in 2022, either. The Rangers were a dismal 68-94 last year, while the Diamondbacks finished 74-88. They had a combined .438 winning percentage the year before advancing to the Fall Classic, the second-worst showing among World Series teams, per MLB.com, trailing only the 1991 Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins, who were a combined .429 in 1990.
Something’s gotta give
The Rangers and Diamondbacks do not have a long and colorful history when it comes to October baseball. The Diamondbacks, which have made the playoffs seven times since they began play in 1998, own one World Series title. That came in 2001 when it dispatched the New York Yankees in a thrilling seven-game series for the franchise’s lone championship in its only World Series appearance.
The Rangers, meanwhile, began play as the Washington Senators in 1961 before relocating to the Lone Star State and becoming the Texas Rangers in 1972, earning nine trips to the playoffs in their history. The franchise, which notched its first postseason berth in 1996, has managed a pair of World Series appearances, losing in 2010 and 2011. Fun fact: The Rangers lost to the San Francisco Giants in 2010. That Giants team was also managed by Bochy.
Road sweet road
The road team won each of the seven games in the Rangers' American League Championship Series win over their in-state rival Houston Astros.
That's only the second time that's happened in a best-of-seven series in Major League Baseball history, following the 2019 World Series when the Washington Nationals beat the Astros, four games to three, to accomplish the feat for the first time in any of the four major North American sports leagues. The Rangers will have home-field advantage against the D-backs, so whether that actually favors them remains to be seen.
How the West was won
This marks the first time teams from the National League West and American League West will play each other in the World Series since 2017, when the Los Angeles Dodgers lost to the Houston Astros.
Chasing that elusive championship
While the D-backs are in search of their second World Series title, the Rangers are now four wins away themselves from their first. They are on a short list of existing teams that have never won a World Series, including the Tampa Bay Rays, Colorado Rockies, San Diego Padres, Milwaukee Brewers and Seattle Mariners. Of those teams, the Rangers are the oldest, dating back to their time in Washington.
When is the World Series and how do I watch it?
Here is the schedule of games for this year’s World Series. All times are Eastern and all games will be broadcast on Fox.
Game 1 — Friday, Oct. 27
Arizona @ Texas, 8 p.m.
Game 2 — Saturday, Oct. 28
Arizona @ Texas, 8 p.m.
Game 3 — Monday, Oct. 30
Texas @ Arizona, 8 p.m.
Game 4 — Tuesday, Oct. 31
Texas @ Arizona, 8 p.m.
Game 5 (if necessary) — Wednesday, Nov. 1
Texas @ Arizona, 8 p.m.
Game 6 (if necessary) — Friday, Nov. 3
Arizona @ Texas, 8 p.m.
Game 7 (if necessary) — Saturday, Nov. 4
Arizona @ Texas, 8 p.m.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
