Rangers Win First World Series In Franchise History

Texas beat Arizona 5-0 in Game 5.

That was one heck of a clinching game.

Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen no hit the Rangers through 6 innings and then gave up the winning run on 3 consecutive hits to open the 7th.

Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi was in and out of trouble but kept the Diamondbacks off the scoreboard through the 6 innings he pitched. They had chance after chance after chance and still the Diamondbacks just couldn’t get the hit they needed to scratch a run across.

This is what I wrote after Game 4 and it’s even more true about Game 5:

So much of success in baseball relies on effective sequencing—in pitch selection, in stringing hits together, and in which pitchers appear and when.

Of course it was Corey Seager who broke up Gallen’s no-hit bid. Of course it was Seager who scored the first run of the game—the winning run in the game that brought the Texas Rangers the first World Series Championship in franchise history. Not surprisingly, Seager was named the Series MVP.

Bruce Bochy used his bullpen in a different way tonight and—like most strategic moves Bochy makes in the postseason—it paid off.

In 29 appearances for the Rangers in the regular season, Aroldis Chapman pitched in the 7th inning only 3 times. In every other appearance, he came into the game in the 8th inning or later. In Game 5, Bochy called for Chapman to start the bottom of the 7th, after the Rangers had taken a 1-0 lead. Chapman walked one and recorded two outs before turning the ball over to Josh Sborz.

Sborz appeared in 44 regular season games for the Rangers. He never pitched more than 2 innings and he did that only 8 times.

In Game 5, Bochy asked Sborz to go 2 1/3. To get the final 7 outs. That’s exactly what he did.

Bochy has now won 4 World Series as a manager. All 4 times, Bochy’s team clinched the Championship on the road. He may be the best postseason manager of all time.

Now that the season is over, I will again be publishing the newsletter three times each week. At least one newsletter each week will be free for everyone—most likely on Fridays. But without the regular cadence of games, and with free agency getting under way, I’m not sure if I’ll have a set publication schedule, or just see where the news takes me. Stay tuned.

Thank you to everyone who subscribed to hanging sliders this season. Thank you to everyone who read hanging sliders and shared it with others. I had an absolute blast writing about baseball again after a few years off. I hope it was fun for you too and that you learned something new about the sport we love.

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