2023 MLB World Series Update

By Brooke Martindale Last updated Nov 2, 2023

The Texas Rangers have never won a World Series; they last made it there in 2011, where they lost a very close seven game series to the St. Louis Cardinals. PHOTO CREDIT: JLEYBOV, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The Texas Rangers won game four of the 2023 World Series on Tuesday by the score of 11-7, giving them a 3-1 lead in the best of seven game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Rangers have never won a World Series in the history of their franchise, and with one more win they will win their first ever championship.

It has been an exciting series thus far between two wild card teams that have been underdogs through most of this MLB postseason. The Rangers won game one 6-5 in an 11-inning thriller, as they scored two runs in the bottom of ninth inning to tie the game on a two-run home run by Corey Seager, then won the game in the bottom of the 11^th inning on an Adolis Garcia walk off home run.

The Diamondbacks responded with a resounding 9-1 victory in game two. Pitcher Merrill Kelly pitched seven innings and only gave up one run, and the offense did their part, scoring two runs in the second inning, two in the seventh, three in the eighth, and two in the ninth.

Game three was a low-scoring contest, with the Rangers scoring three runs in the third inning and holding the Diamondbacks to one run for the game, winning 3-1 to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

Game four was very different, as after the two teams combined for four total runs in game three, they combined for 18 total runs in game four. The Rangers came out strong, scoring five runs in the second inning and five more in the third to take a 10-3 lead through three innings. The Diamondbacks scored one run in the fourth and added four in the eighth and two in the ninth, while the Rangers added one more run in the eighth, making the final score 11-7 and giving the Rangers a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

For Rangers fans, being a game away from a World Series championship brings back memories of the legendary 2011 World Series, where they played the St. Louis Cardinals. The Rangers were up 3-2 in that series and had a 7-5 lead in the ninth inning of game six, and they even were one strike away from winning the championship.

However, with two outs and a 1-2 count, David Freese hit a triple to tie the game at 7-7. They then took a 9-7 lead in the 10^th inning and were once again a strike away from winning the World Series in the bottom of the 10^th, but the Cardinals once again tied the game. Then, in the bottom of the eleventh Freese hit a walk-off home run to win the game and tie the series 3-3.

In the next game, the Cardinals won game seven 6-2 to win the World Series. We will see if the Rangers will finally get their first World Series championship this year, or if there could be a similar story to 2011 and a comeback Diamondbacks championship.