2023 MLB World Series Preview

By Brooke Martindale Last updated Oct 26, 2023

The Arizona Diamondbacks last won the World Series in 2001, and they play the Texas Rangers in this years World Series with a chance to win their second championship. PHOTO CREDIT: AL_HIKESAZ, FLICKR

The 2023 World Series is upon us. Out of the 30 MLB teams across the country, it has come down to two: the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Rangers are one of only six teams in the entire league that still have no World Series win to their name, yet now, if all goes well, they are just four games away from changing that. This will be only their third time to ever make the championship series, with the last two being in 2010 and 2011, losing to the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, respectively.

On the other side of things, the Arizona Diamondbacks have won it all. It was 2001, and they played the New York Yankees. They claimed victory in seven games, only four seasons into their existence in the MLB as an official team. So this time, reaching the final series is their first time in over 20 years.

Both the American League Championship Series for the Rangers and the National League Championship Series for the Diamondbacks went to the full seven games, so it’s fair to say that these two teams can play some good baseball. The Rangers won in a bit more dominating fashion overall, with their game seven having them winning 11-4 vs the Astros, while the Diamondbacks secured their place in the series above all else, winning 4-2 vs the Phillies.

Yet even with that in mind, each team has its fair share of power-hitters. Corey Seager on the Rangers has been quite prolific in all aspects of the game, and so has Tommy Pham of the Diamondbacks. The Rangers and the Diamondbacks both did not win their divisions in the regular season, and were therefore wild card teams in these playoffs. The Rangers went 90-72, losing their division on a tiebreaker with the Astros, who also went 90-72, while the Diamondbacks went 84-78 and were tied with the Miami Marlins for having the worst record of all the teams in the playoffs.

Once playoffs baseball starts though, regular season record don’t matter, which both these teams showed, as throughout the playoffs they upset teams with better records than them to reach the World Series.

As a final interesting point, the Rangers, prior to this year in winning the American League pennant, had six losing seasons or seasons where their losses were greater than their wins. So, to turn around a team to the caliber that this season’s Rangers did is something else.

Now, only time will tell who of the top two teams in the league rises to the top and can call themselves World Series Champions.