How many people predicted that the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers would meet in the World Series ahead of the opening of the 2023 Major League Baseball season?굿모닝토토
In the preseason power rankings announced by the official Major League Baseball website ahead of the season opening in March, Texas ranked 19th and Arizona ranked 21st.
The evaluations of other sports media, including ESPN, were similar. There weren’t many people who even viewed the two teams as candidates to advance to the postseason.
However, the two teams collaborated in the underdog rebellion. Arizona and Texas started as lower seeds and wild cards in the National League and American League, respectively, and defeated the championship candidates in succession to advance to the World Series.
Arizona and Texas met in the division series against the Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles, who had over 100 wins in the regular season this year, and achieved 3 wins, no losses, and a complete victory.
With momentum, they won a close game in Game 7 of the Championship Series and earned a ticket to the World Series.
Texas recently overtook the Houston Astros, a steady powerhouse in the American League, and Arizona quelled the surge of the Philadelphia Phillies, who overtook the Atlanta Braves, the team with the most wins in the National League.
Texas, which has advanced to the World Series for the third time in its history, is attempting to win its first championship. From 2010 to 2011, they reached the World Series two years in a row, but had the painful experience of losing to the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, respectively.
Texas boasts a strong batting lineup. In the postseason team OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage), he ranks first overall with 0.825. In 12 games, he hit 22 home runs and scored 71 runs.
The bats of Evan Carter and Josh Young are hot, led by Adolis Garrisa, who played with 7 home runs and 20 RBIs in this year’s fall baseball, and Corey Seager, who has shown explosive on-base and slugging ability with a postseason OPS of 1.127.
Nathan Evoldi’s performance on the mound was dazzling. Evoldi, who was designated as the starter for Game 1 of the World Series, appeared on the mound four times in this year’s postseason and became the winning pitcher in all of them.
Arizona’s final advance to the World Series against Texas remains a vivid memory for domestic baseball fans.
Arizona advanced to the World Series for the first time since 2001, when Byung-Hyun Kim played. At that time, Arizona defeated the New York Yankees and enjoyed the thrill of winning its first championship.
In 2001, Byung-Hyun Kim showed signs of instability as the team’s closing pitcher, but Arizona ended the close game in Game 7 with a win thanks to the powerful one-two punch of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling.
Arizona enters the first game with ace Jack Gallen, who recorded 17 wins, 9 losses, and an ERA of 3.47 in the regular league.
However, Gallon has been sluggish recently. Appearing in two games of the Championship Series, he was the losing pitcher in both games, and showed his instability by allowing 9 runs in a total of 11 innings.
But Arizona has a strong bullpen.
The Arizona bullpen, which came back to life in the postseason, was responsible for 5 of the 9 wins (based on decision) the team recorded in this year’s postseason. He maintained Arizona’s strong performance by recording an ERA of 2.94 and 47 strikeouts in a total of 49 innings.
Attention is being paid to the performance of Merrill Kelly, who played in the KBO League for the SK Wyverns (now SSG Landers) but was exported to the Major League. Kelly led Arizona’s advance to the World Series by recording 2 wins, 1 loss, and an ERA of 2.65 in 3 games this fall.
In the batting lineup, Ketel Marte has good feel and the power of ‘running baseball’ led by rookie Corbin Carroll is powerful. Arizona succeeded in stealing 16 bases in 12 postseason games this year. This is the team that took best advantage of the changes in the major league, which saw a significant increase in stolen bases due to the expansion of base size.
The World Series between the two teams will begin at 9 a.m. on the 28th, Korean time, at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.