Not a Dream: The Wildest Numbers Behind the Texas Rangers Historic World Series Win

Just as the clock struck 10 p.m. on Wednesday night, legendary Texas Rangers radio broadcaster Eric Nadel exclaimed the words that millions have waited to hear for more than 50 years: "It's over! It's over! The Rangers have won the World Series! Ranger fans, you're not dreaming."

On the strength of a 5–0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 5 of the World Series, the Rangers indeed have won the first title in club history.

Some of the team's most die-hard fans were tempting fate by focusing on certain numbers before the trophy was lifted. On Tuesday night after the team's Game 4 win, 97.1 The Freak radio host and longtime Rangers fanatic Mike Rhyner posted a message to X (formerly Twitter) saying "I am 1 win away from being able to die happy". Then again, on Wednesday night near the end of the triumphant Game 5, he posted "The Texas baseball Rangers are 3 outs away from winning the World Series."

This call is history!

🎙️ @nadeler & @radiohicksie pic.twitter.com/vt9iIkRzXO

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) November 2, 2023

But the Rangers proved to be stronger than any run-of-the-mill, overeager fan's possible jinx. In front of 48,511 people at Chase Field in Phoenix, the franchise that arrived in North Texas from Washington, D.C., in 1972 closed out the 119th World Series in just a tad under three hours. Understandably, many people will home in on the number 52, as in the number of years the Rangers have been in existence without a championship. But there are plenty of other numbers that help tell the remarkable story of this rather unpredictable moment in DFW sports history.

0

Although the Rangers have been a solid defensive unit all year, the local team stepped up their defense even more, playing errorless ball in the Series. Corey Seager, Josh Jung, Evan Carter and Marcus Semien each had highlight reel-worthy plays in the field — several of them nothing short of clutch game-savers. The D-Backs committed only two errors in the Series, but each of those errors, one in Game 4 and another in Game 5, led to Rangers runs that proved to be vital.

1

Yes, this is the first World Series trophy in team history, and by itself that’s worthy of celebration. But that total now matches the number of legitimate championships that the rival Houston Astros have. The record books read that Houston has two titles, one in 2017 and one in 2022, but who are we kidding? The Asterisks (sorry, we mean the Astros) have admitted they carried out one of the biggest cheating scandals in American pro sports history during the 2017 season, so let’s call it even now, shall we?

2

Shortstop Corey Seager, pitcher Nathan Eovaldi and manager Bruce Bochy have each won a World Series title with two different franchises. Even more impressive for Seager is that he took home his second World Series MVP trophy, after winning it in 2020 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Seager is only the second position player to win a pair of WS MVPs, joining Mr. October himself, Reggie Jackson, in the now two-person club.

3

In what is likely the biggest WTF number from the 2023 World Series, Rangers relief pitcher Will Smith (no, not that one) has now won back-to-back-to-back World Series, doing so with three different clubs (Atlanta Braves in 2021 and Houston Astros in 2022).

6

When ALCS MVP slugger Adolis Garcia was taken off the World Series roster just before Game 4, it was an emotional and tactical blow to the team, but it didn’t sink them. His replacement, Travis Jankowski, now playing on his sixth team in eight years, provided the club with plenty of spark in the form of clutch hits and veteran savvy.

7

When the Rangers beat the Houston Astros in the ALCS 4 games to 3 following a Game 7 rout, they not only hushed plenty of loudmouth doubters, but they adamantly, defiantly punched their ticket to the World Series in a way similar to the 2004 Boston Red Sox. The Crimson Hose, looking to expel a monkey from the team's back, took down their longtime nemesis, the New York Yankees, before winning their first title in more than eight decades. We’ll take a World Series win any way we can get it, but there’s no denying that vanquishing the Astros on the way to the title makes things so much sweeter.

8

Prior to Game 4, the Rangers’ $175 million second baseman Marcus Semien had gone AWOL in the postseason, registering only a few singles and a ton of easy outs. But with eight RBIs over the last two games of the series, Semien made a run for the MVP trophy that few saw coming even a week ago.

11

Arguably the most eye-catching number for this year’s playoff run, the 2023 Rangers are the first team in MLB history to win 11 straight road playoff games. That historic accomplishment is even more remarkable considering that the Rangers did not have home-field advantage in any of their post-season series until the World Series. And as we now know, they didn’t have much use for such a so-called “advantage.” Eleven is also the number of times the Rangers won a playoff game when they scored first, another sign of toughness from a team that showed its mettle throughout the season.

21

Barely old enough to legally enjoy the champagne and beer that sprayed around the locker room on Wednesday night, 21-year-old right fielder Evan Carter has already earned a prominent place in Rangers history thanks to his timely hitting, clutch defense and clever base-running during the postseason. Carter makes all-star rookie third baseman Josh Jung seem like a geriatric case at 25. We could add the number 9 to this list, too. Carter hit that many doubles during the playoffs, the most ever in a single postseason, regardless of age.

45

The aforementioned Nadel has now completed 45 seasons as the radio voice of the Rangers. Making Wednesday night’s win even more special, Nadel was behind the mic for another season’s end, although he didn’t start the season in his normal spot. In March, just before the season began, Nadel announced he would miss some time while he addressed the issues of anxiety and depression. For so many, his impossibly smooth voice and delivery are as synonymous with the team as Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan or Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez. In fact, Nadel was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame himself in 2014 after being included in the team’s own hall in 2012.

196

In 2021 and 2022 the Rangers lost a whopping 196 games. It’s an impressive number in that a team has to almost try to lose that often. To go from 94 losses in 2022 to 90 wins in 2023 is more than a remarkable turnaround. It stands as one of the biggest swings in MLB history. But adding in the 2021 season makes this year even more historic. According to Baseball America, the two-year swing the Rangers have engineered is the greatest turnaround in Major League history.

30,000,000

When free-agent pitcher Jacob deGrom signed a massive contract with the Rangers in the offseason that would pay him $30 million in 2023, fans were excited, but cautiously so. The lefty had been one of the best pitchers in the Major Leagues for years, but also one of its more injury-prone stars. When in June, after only a few starts, deGrom announced he would miss the rest of the season due to injury, it seemed as though that $30 million had been wasted and that the Rangers' chances for postseason success were tanked as well. But just as the 2011 NBA champion Dallas Mavericks rallied after losing stud free-agent signing Caron Butler to injury that season, the Rangers never let the deGrom loss get in the way of steering their ship in the right direction.