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The Rangers are one win away from making franchise history. They will surely want to make sure that they can finish off the resilient Diamondbacks right here and now in Phoenix.
Despite losing Max Scherzer to injury and Adolis García’s incredible Postseason run coming to a premature end in sad fashion, the Texas Rangers just keep on rolling. Texas scored five runs in the second inning of Game 4 and decided that it was so much fun that they’d do it again in the very next inning in order to race out to a 10-run lead after just three innings — with all 10 runs coming with two outs on the board, no less! While the Arizona Diamondbacks did very well to fight back and eventually get within a grand slam’s reach of the Rangers, it still just wasn’t enough to compete with Texas on this night.
For those counting along at home, that’s now a scarcely-believable 10-straight road wins this Postseason for the Rangers and they’re starting to put room between themselves and other great road warriors from the past. If Arizona’s going to dig their way out of this 3-1 hole then it’ll be a comeback (or Answerback?) for the ages at this rate. There have been 37 instances in World Series history of a 3-1 scenario and 31 of those instances resulted in the team that was up 3-1 eventually finishing the job and lifting the trophy at the end of the Fall Classic. When you expand that to best-of-seven series overall, the math looks just as bleak — there have been 92 3-1 scenarios and 78 of them saw the leading team go on to complete the task.
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With that being said, the Diamondbacks don’t have to look far for motivation — it wasn’t all that long ago when the Chicago Cubs pulled off a 3-1 comeback to win in seven and kick off one of the most cathartic celebrations in baseball history. Arizona doesn’t even have to look outside of their organization for motivation, either. This is the same team that bucked all of the odds in order to even get to this point in the first place — especially in the NLCS where they never led the series until they took two straight games in Philadelphia to win the NL pennant in seven games.
At this point, the Diamondbacks have to take things one game at a time. As weird as this Postseason has been, you might even like Arizona’s chances better in Texas than at home. The Rangers have been hotter than the sun while playing away from their home ballpark here in October but they’ve only gone 2-4 at Globe Life Field during this Postseason. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks may not have been as hot away from home but their road record has been nothing to sniff at, either — they’ve gone 7-3 on the road so far and have proven that they’re not afraid of any hostile environment that they’ve had to deal with this offseason.
With those records in mind, that’s why Game 5 might end up being the linchpin game of this year’s World Series. Obviously if the Rangers win then they’ll be able to celebrate winning their first-ever World Series title but if the Diamondbacks win then it’s at least feasible that they could go to Texas and complete the comeback. Nathan Eovaldi is getting the start for Texas in Game 5 while the Diamondbacks are countering with Zac Gallen and when we saw this play out in Game 1, Gallen actually left the game with a 5-3 lead. Gallen has also been a much better pitcher at home in 2023 than on the road (while it does merit mentioning that his only home start this Postseason came against the Phillies in Game 5 of the NLCS and it didn’t go well) and if that holds up then the Diamondbacks may actually become the Answerbacks and keep the Rangers from celebrating in their pool.
If Arizona wins Game 5, they’ll have Merrill Kelly and Brandon Pfaadt going for them if it goes the distance in Texas. They will also have a well-rested bullpen going forward after Ryne Nelson took one for the team and went 5.1 innings in Game 4. This absolutely isn’t to say that you may as well pencil in a comeback for the Diamondbacks if they win Game 5 but if you squint then it’s feasible to envision it happening. If Arizona’s pitching tightens up and the likes of Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte can keep on causing chaos both in the batter’s box and on the base paths then this could get very, very nervy for Texas if this series returns to Arlington.
That’s why it’s imperative for the Rangers to sweep the leg at this point and finish off Arizona while they’ve got them down. While the end of Game 4 was certainly shaky for Texas, that doesn’t take away from the fact that their offense has been clicking. Corey Seager is hitting to the point where Fox Sports was comparing him to Mr. October himself, Reggie Jackson and Marcus Semien has started heating up as well. As long as those two are still setting the tone for this Rangers lineup and Nathan Eovaldi can provide a bounce-back effort then it’s easy to see them finishing this series off in five games.
The Texas Rangers as a franchise have been here before. They came agonizingly close in 2011 to winning their first World Series title — not only were they one out away on two separate occasions, they were one strike away in those moments as well. There’s no need to remind this fanbase of how close yet far being one win away from a title can feel. The Arizona Diamondbacks have also been in this position before where they’ve needed to get up from the canvas with their title hopes on the line. Game 5 could be a historic night for the Rangers or it could potentially be the start of yet another answer back for the Answerbacks.
