Tell the truth: How many people picked the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers to meet in the World Series?
The potential matchup had 1,750 to 1 odds when wagering opened last fall.
But in an era when 12 teams make the MLB playoffs, sustained excellence over the six-month regular season has become a boarding pass, not the journey, leading to a long-shot World Series that opens Friday night at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
“Once you get into the big dance, anything can happen,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said before Tuesday night’s 4-2 road win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series, which advanced Arizona to its first appearance in the Fall Classic since 2001. “Throw it all out the window. The teams that get in deserve to be in.”
All the glamour teams are watching at home: The Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers stumbled in NL Division Series matchups, the Houston Astros’ bid to repeat as World Series champions was ousted by Texas in an American League Championship Series that went seven games and wrapped up Monday, and the storied New York Yankees didn’t even make it to the postseason.
Instead, Major League Baseball has its third all-wild card meeting in the World Series, a Grand Canyon versus Lone Star State finale of second-place teams played in air-conditioned ballparks under retractable roofs — potentially the first all-indoor Fall Classic.
“I thought it would take a little more time,” Diamondbacks rookie outfielder Corbin Carroll said. “So to be able to do it in this first year just makes it all the more special.”
Both of the previous all-wild card matchups went seven games. The AL’s Los Angeles Angels beat the NL’s San Francisco Giants in 2002, and Bruce Bochy’s Giants defeated the Kansas City Royals in 2014 for their third title in five years.
AP photo by Matt Slocum / Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Paul Sewald celebrates after the team’s 4-2 win against the host Philadelphia Phillies in Game 7 of the NL Championship Series on Tuesday night to reach the World Series for the first time in 22 years.The Diamondbacks and the Rangers are both two years removed from last-place finishes in their respective West Divisions and 100-loss seasons. Arizona was the No. 6 seed in the NL this year, with Texas the No. 5 seed in the AL.
“Sometimes, one of the last hurdles to get over is that winning feeling, attitude, when you’ve been losing for a few seasons,” Bochy said.
Bochy, 68 and in his 26th year as an MLB manager, joined the Rangers last October. He is going for his fourth title, which would tie Walter Alston and Joe Torre for fourth place behind Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel (seven each) and Connie Mack (five). All prior managers with three or more are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
“I don’t think about me. I’m riding their backs, trust me,” Bochy said. “It’s unreal that I’m here, to be honest. Sitting at the house for three years, and think, here I am going to a World Series. Yeah, that’s special. But it’s more about them and trying to find a way to get a ring for those guys.”
Texas started play as the expansion Washington Senators from 1961-71 and has played 10,028 games without a title (9,964 regular-season games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, plus 64 in the postseason). That’s the second-longest MLB drought behind Cleveland, which last won in 1948.
After losing in the World Series in 2010 and 2011, the Rangers are among six teams without a title, joined by the Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays.
Arizona’s only title came on Luis Gonzalez’s ninth-inning single off Yankees closer Mariano Rivera in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series.
Texas headed into these playoffs with the sixth-highest payroll at $228 million. Arizona was 20th at $127 million.
Both teams rallied and earned their World Series berths on the road. It was the first time road teams won Games 6 and 7 in both leagues since the two championship series expanded to a best-of-seven format in 1985.
Without veteran pitcher Jacob deGrom after a season-ending elbow injury, the Rangers acquired Jordan Montgomery and Max Scherzer to join a rotation that included Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney. Adolis García has seven homers and 20 RBIs in the playoffs, leading a lineup also powered by 2020 World Series MVP Corey Seager, Mitch Garver, Josh Jung and Marcus Semien.
Arizona’s rotation is led by Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and Brandon Pfaadt, and its offense has been sparked by Carroll, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Gabriel Moreno, Ketel Marte and Christian Walker. Lovullo, 58, is in his seventh season as Diamondbacks manager and in the playoffs for the first time since his 2017 team was swept by the Dodgers in an NLDS.
Texas is 8-0 on the road in the postseason but has home-field advantage because it won 90 games during the regular season to Arizona’s 84 — which could be the second-fewest for a World Series champion in a nonshortened season behind the St. Louis Cardinals’ 83 in 2006. The Diamondbacks split two games at Texas in May and swept a pair at home in August, including an 11-inning win on consecutive doubles by Geraldo Perdomo and Tommy Pham off Will Smith. The Rangers hold a 28-25 edge in all-time regular-season matchups between the franchises.
There are some common ties. Lovullo’s staff includes bench coach Jeff Banister, who managed the Rangers from 2015-18, while Scherzer was drafted by the Diamondbacks and spent his first two seasons with them in 2008-09 before he was dealt to the Detroit Tigers.
Eovaldi and Gallen are the scheduled starting pitchers for Friday’s opener.
“Nate’s had plenty of rest,” Bochy said Wednesday. “He’s ready to go.”