The World Series matchup is set! What Rangers and D-backs need to do to win it all
The 2023 World Series matchup is set.
Starting Friday, the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks will clash for the Commissioner’s Trophy in a meeting of powerful lineups and dominant starting pitchers.
One night after the Rangers booked their first trip to the Fall Classic since 2011 with a Game 7 victory over the Houston Astros, the Diamondbacks continued their stunning run with a 4-2 Game 7 win in Philadelphia.
What has October taught us about each of these teams? What does each squad need to do to come out on top? And which players could be the difference-makers on both sides? ESPN MLB experts Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez, Jesse Rogers and David Schoenfield break it down.
What’s the most impressive thing about the Rangers this postseason?
Doolittle: The explosiveness of the offense is the Rangers’ standout trait, but during the playoffs what has really put them over the top is the performance of their top two starting pitchers. Simply put, Texas would not be in the World Series without the consistent performances of Jordan Montgomery and Nathan Eovaldi.
Eovaldi built upon his previous playoff reputation and has fully established himself as one of the great October pitchers of the last decade — at least. Montgomery has been almost as good (with one clunker mixed in there, in the ALDS against the Baltimore Orioles). Montgomery has become Bruce Bochy’s new “MadBum” (Madison Bumgarner), drawing a Game 7 bullpen assignment even when the Texas relief staff was fully rested and ready to go. Two starting pitchers can no longer carry a club to a championship in the way that Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling did in 2001, but what we’ve seen the Rangers’ top two do is as close to that as we are likely to get.
Gonzalez: The Rangers’ lineup is deep, but Adolis Garcia is the one who makes them go — more so than even Marcus Semien and Corey Seager, the $500 million middle-infield combo that occupies at the top of the order. Garcia has become Texas’ most dynamic player. And when he’s running hot, his energy is infectious. In his last six at-bats of the ALCS, while heckled at unimaginable levels by the Houston crowd, he homered three times and drove in nine runs, almost single-handedly ending the defending-champion Astros’ season. He has driven in 20 runs in 12 playoff games and is already just one RBI behind David Freese in 2011 for the most in a single postseason. This is a guy who just four years ago was passed over by the St. Louis Cardinals — and two years ago by the Rangers themselves, when they designated him for assignment. Amazing.
Why will it (or won’t it) work against the D-backs in the World Series?
Doolittle: Arizona has not really been carried by the performance of any particular starting pitcher or, indeed, any one thing at all. Whatever it has taken to survive in a particular series, Torey Lovullo and his team have been able to find. In Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen, Arizona does have a top two capable of staying with Eovaldi and Montgomery. There is less pressure for that duo to work deep because Lovullo has been so aggressive with his bullpen use, but if Texas continues to get long, effective starts from its big two, that will make things awful tough on Arizona. That would mean Bruce Bochy can both effectively moderate his high-leverage relievers and keep his staff fresh for when he needs to feature a steady parade of bullpen arms.
Gonzalez: Garcia’s bat has a tendency to run hot and cold. He OPS’d .790 in July and August, then .934 in September. And just before running absolutely rampant in that six-at-bat stretch to cap off a historic LCS run, he struck out four consecutive times, taking some ugly swings on a handful of occasions. In the past three seasons, only one man in all of baseball — Eugenio Suarez — compiled more strikeouts than Garcia, so highs and lows are inevitable with him. The Rangers just have to hope his surge lasts another week or so. It’s a really small sample size, of course, but Garcia was only 2-for-17 with five strikeouts against the D-backs this season, including a combined 0-for-7 showing against Zac Gallen and Brandon Pfaadt (he did not face Merrill Kelly).
Who is the one player who must deliver for the Rangers to be champs from here?
Doolittle: Our perception of who needs to get going during the playoffs can change so rapidly. Corbin Carroll, who looked like he was a budding playoff superstar during the first round against the Brewers, mostly struggled in the NLCS, then went wild in Game 7. Corey Seager, the best player in the playoffs during the Rangers’ early games, struggled throughout the ALCS — then went wild in Game 7. So you just don’t know how rapidly this picture will change.
One player who has been consistent for the Rangers throughout October is Marcus Semien — but not in a good way. It’s hard to imagine the Rangers finishing this run off without Semien starting to book some better offensive results. Semien seemed to have better swings and approach in the last two games against Houston, and if that’s a precursor to him breaking out in the World Series, look out. The rest of the Rangers lineup seems to be in fine fettle — if Semien gets going, there is nowhere for opposing pitchers to hide.
Gonzalez: This one is easy: Jose Leclerc. Those who haven’t been following the Rangers this postseason might not be all that familiar with him, but he has become their go-to closer and most important reliever. The Rangers have navigated this entire year with a shaky bullpen, and as the stakes have continually ratcheted up, it has become clear that Bochy trusts very few pitchers with close leads late. One of those is certainly Josh Sborz. And perhaps the only other one is Leclerc, who has converted almost as many saves this postseason (three) as he did throughout the entire regular season (four). The 29-year-old right-hander was really good this year, with a 2.68 ERA and 67 strikeouts – though also 28 walks – in 67 innings. He can provide more than one inning, and he’ll undoubtedly be called on to do that in the World Series.
What’s the most impressive thing about the D-backs this postseason?
Rogers: Everything? But really, it’s been their ability to adjust on the fly — whether that’s to a raucous crowd, a slumping player or a struggling reliever. They’ve mixed and matched all over the place, and they have a manager who is willing to put his neck on the line. Simply put, they’ve maxed out on moments to get them where they are. Whatever you think of the matchup, it would be unwise to anoint the Rangers after what the D-backs have done this postseason. Every part of their roster helped get them to this point. There’s no reason that will change now.
Schoenfield: That they’ve made it this far even though their stars haven’t really carried the load. After a hot start to the postseason — 6-for-12 with two home runs in his first three games — Corbin Carroll was a non-factor until busting out in the finale of the NLCS with three hits, two runs, two stolen bases and a sac fly. The Diamondbacks lost both of Zac Gallen’s starts against the Phillies. Christian Walker, who led the team with 33 home runs, had two hits and drove in two runs in the NLCS. And yet, somehow they won all three of the non-Gallen/non-Merrill Kelly games, when everyone figured the only way for them to upset the Phillies was to have Gallen and Kelly dominate. Up is down, left is right, nothing about this team in the postseason really adds up — but they’re still playing baseball.
Why will it (or won’t it) work against the Rangers in the World Series?
Rogers: Now that they’ve gotten this far, why would anyone say the D-backs can’t keep doing their thing all the way to a title? This is a team that seems to have a different hero every game. And here’s another key to the D-backs success: They’re hitting home runs this postseason. That was a huge question mark coming into October. They’ve sprinkled in just enough to keep the opposition honest. In fact, it’s Alek Thomas — a part time starter — who leads them with four. It’s hard to imagine a conventional series win — there would have to be some grinding moments — but Arizona could pull off another shocker.
Schoenfield: It seems unlikely, doesn’t it? You can only rely so much on Brandon Pfaadt or Alek Thomas, and Ketel Marte can’t be the only player to consistently produce on offense. Then again, the Diamondbacks took advantage of the Phillies’ biggest weakness — Craig Kimbrel — to win Games 3 and 4, and it’s not like the Rangers have a lockdown late-game bullpen either as closer Jose Leclerc has been sketchy and also worked hard this postseason. But all you have to do is out-win the opponent over seven games, not outscore them.
Still, it feels like the keys will once again be Gallen and Kelly. The Rangers’ lineup finished the ALCS scoring 20 runs the final two games. They have home-field advantage where their OPS in the regular season was more than 100 points higher than on the road (they hit 143 home runs at home, 90 on the road). Given the Diamondbacks will have to rely have heavily on the bullpen in Games 3 and 4 and then again in Game 7 if it goes that far, it’s important that Gallen and Kelly also give them some length.
Who is the one player who must deliver for the D-backs to be champs from here?
Rogers: Gabriel Moreno. It might sound dramatic to choose a rookie catcher, but his impact on the Diamondbacks right now can’t be overstated. He’s been moved up in the lineup and now will need to call another great series against an offensive powerhouse. It’s so much to ask — but it has been every round, and he keeps coming through. Don’t forget his rocket arm, either — the Rangers didn’t run a lot during the regular season, but they have that tool in their toolbox. If Moreno can keep doing exactly what he’s doing, he’ll be a big reason the Diamondbacks have a shot at this.
Schoenfield: Carroll. They’re going to have to score runs to beat the Rangers, which means they’ll need production from someone besides Marte at the top of the order. Until Game 7, when he seemed more himself, Carroll looked a little overmatched against the Phillies until his big Game 7, and perhaps the fatigue of the long season has caught up to him. His groundball rate has gone from 45% in the regular season to 55% in the postseason (and 65% in the NLCS); he’s clearly had issues driving the ball. Maybe it’s a slump — and perhaps his late breakout points to as much — but if it is fatigue, the Arizona offense might be in trouble.
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Ryan S. Clark
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Kristen Shilton
The 2023-24 NHL regular season was an entertaining one, with races for playoff position, point and goal leaders, and major trophies all coming down to the bitter end.
But not every fan base got to enjoy all of it so much.
With eliminations piling up, it’s time to look ahead to the offseason. Clubs that didn’t quite hit the mark this season will use the draft, free agency and trades in an effort to be more competitive in 2024-25.
Read on for a look at what went wrong for each eliminated team, along with a breakdown of its biggest keys this offseason and realistic expectations for next season. Note that more teams will be added to this story as they are eliminated.
Note: Profiles for the Atlantic and Metro teams were written by Kristen Shilton, while Ryan S. Clark analyzed the Central and Pacific teams. Stats are collected from sites such as Natural Stat Trick, Hockey Reference and Evolving Hockey. Projected cap space per Cap Friendly. Dates listed with each team are when the entry was published.
Jump to a team:
ANA | ARI | BOS | BUF
CGY | CAR | CHI | COL
CBJ | DET | LA | MIN
MTL | NSH | NJ | NYI
OTT | PHI | PIT | SJ
SEA | STL | TB | TOR
VGK | WSH | WPG
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — On the night of Oct. 7, Wesleyan wide receiver Colby Geddis traveled back from a game in Maine with his phone on life support, attempting to track the Notre Dame–Louisville contest.
Jordan Faison, Geddis’ close friend and longtime teammate in both football and lacrosse, was set to make his football debut for Notre Dame. Faison had come to college as a top-50 lacrosse recruit and walked on to the football team as a wide receiver.
Geddis’ phone had only enough juice to allow him to refresh the statistics.
“When I saw him touch the field, I’m like, ‘Holy s—, this kid is playing D-I football,'” Geddis said. “It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.”
Faison has continued to impress his friends, family and Fighting Irish fans, spending the winter and spring successfully juggling two sports that, at Notre Dame, carry the highest of expectations. The true freshman scored Notre Dame’s first goal of the lacrosse season Feb. 14, 38 seconds into the opener against Cleveland State, and is a starting midfielder for an Irish team that continues its quest to repeat as national champions when it faces Georgetown in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals (noon ET, ESPNU). Faison ranks fourth on the team in both goals (19) and points (27).
When Notre Dame began spring football practice March 22, Faison was around as much as he could be, avoiding contact to preserve his body for lacrosse, while still learning new offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock’s scheme.
Faison came to Notre Dame primarily for lacrosse, joining a program that had captured its first national championship in spring 2023. But then football had to come first. He made 19 receptions in seven games as a slot receiver, tied for second on the team in touchdown catches (4) and earned Sun Bowl MVP honors with five catches for 115 yards and a touchdown.
“You’re held to a standard in both sports and you’ve got to meet that standard to make sure the team is developing well,” Faison said. “Being able to do that has just been freaking awesome.”
Faison wasn’t even supposed to see the football field for Notre Dame this soon. He’s also somewhat of an unlikely lacrosse prodigy, hailing from a region not known for producing many college stars. But after a blistering start at Notre Dame, he has become the link between two sports that are often not viewed through the same lens but contain plenty of parallels.
NOTRE DAME WIDE receivers coach Mike Brown spends chunks of his year on the road recruiting, which often means watching prospects compete in other sports. Basketball is common. So are track and baseball. Those recruiting in the Midwest often see future football players on the mat in wrestling singlets.
But Brown hadn’t experienced much lacrosse crossover.
“Obviously with Jordan out there, I’m watching a lot more and just learning,” Brown said. “It’s a lot of similar movements, change of direction, how they rotate. It’s a football slash basketball-ish mix.”
Faison is a distinct talent, but there are other players with football-lacrosse backgrounds competing at the Division I level. There’s even another at Notre Dame. Tyler Buchner, who opened the 2022 football season as Fighting Irish starting quarterback and vied for the QB1 job last spring before transferring to Alabama, returned to Notre Dame over the winter to compete for the lacrosse team, a sport he had not played since early in high school. Buchner is a reserve midfielder for the Irish.
Will Shipley, the Clemson running back selected in the fourth round of last month’s NFL draft, was a standout lacrosse player in high school who could have played both sports at Notre Dame had he signed with the Irish. Maryland defensive back Dante Trader Jr., who started the past two seasons, earned honorable mention All-America honors for the Terrapins lacrosse team in 2023 before focusing solely on football.
So what skills in lacrosse translate to football?
“What wouldn’t?” Notre Dame lacrosse coach Kevin Corrigan, who has led the program since 1988, shot back. “Changing directions, reading a guy’s hips to know when to come out of your break, deception that you use to make guys think you’re doing one thing or another, those are all traits that you’re using on both fields. Forget about the acceleration and stopping and those sorts of things. All the athletic traits translate very easily.”
Geddis, who played both football and lacrosse with Faison throughout their childhood, cited significant tactical differences, but also similarities with core movements. The two sports track especially for wide receivers, who have to beat defenders in press coverage with their feet and hands, just like lacrosse players seeking room to attempt shots.
“It definitely does translate a lot in terms of understanding where to attack leverage on a guy and how to break him down,” Geddis said. “Going against D-I safeties and corners, his IQ and skill set is probably so much better now for lacrosse. And that aspect goes both ways.”
And those talents immediately jumped out to Faison’s football teammates.
“He’s agile, fast, athletic, quick, so no wonder it’s going to translate to lacrosse,” wide receiver Jayden Thomas said. “Seeing him in football, it’s obvious, and then going out to a [lacrosse] game and watching him, it’s like, ‘OK, it makes sense.'”
When Faison’s two-sport ambition came into focus, Notre Dame mapped out a detailed schedule for him. Faison spent the summer and fall with the football team, immersed in the demanding schedule of practices and meetings, and ultimately travel and games. He missed six weeks of lacrosse practice in the fall, as well as weight training and individual work.
After the Sun Bowl on Dec. 28, Faison briefly went home, but he was at the first preseason lacrosse practice Jan. 11 and became a full participant days later. The lacrosse plan called for him to focus on defense, mindful of his time away, but he quickly showed he could handle all the midfielders’ tasks. The 5-foot-10, 182-pound Faison did in-season lifting with lacrosse this spring, while doing little physically with football, where he spent most of his time in meetings as Notre Dame installed its offense.
Corrigan credited football coach Marcus Freeman and strength and conditioning coach Loren Landow for aligning their expectations to ensure Faison is at his best in lacrosse during the spring and at his best in football when the fall comes.
“I’ve told Marcus and them, ‘If you gave us all your skill guys and made them play lacrosse in the spring and they had the ability to play it at a high level, it would be the best training physically for those guys to possibly have,'” Corrigan said.
FAISON’S INTRODUCTION TO lacrosse came easily and innocently.
He was 6 at the time and just finished a youth football game with Geddis in South Florida. Geddis immediately began lacrosse practice on a nearby field. Faison then grabbed a stick and started launching balls as far as he could.
“That got me into the sport, and then I took it and ran with it,” Faison said.
His football teammates all began playing lacrosse for a team coached by Geddis’ father. Faison showed the natural ability to make one-on-one plays and absorbed the finer points of the sport, especially within the team construct. Lacrosse in Florida has become more popular, but the area still trails the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic in generating elite-level competition and Division I recruiting avenues.
“We were smoking every team down here,” said Quincy Faison, Jordan’s father, who helped coach the youth lacrosse team. “Then, when we would take our team up to the North, we would get smoked. So to get better, you need to understand how they operate, how they practice, what they work on.”
To gain greater exposure, Faison began playing club lacrosse during the summers with a team in Long Island, New York. During that first summer, before he entered high school, he lived in an RV with his parents and younger brother, Dylan.
The Faisons posted up in an RV park near Nickerson Beach, about 15 miles from JFK International Airport. Quincy, a technology executive, and his mother Kristen, who works in software development, had the RV equipped with portable high-speed internet so they could keep working.
“My wife and I loved it; I’m not sure how Jordan and Dylan felt,” Quincy said. “We were within 100 yards of the beach, there was a bike ramp set up. I took Zoom calls from the RV. It was basically like camping for the whole summer.”
But Jordan said he had “mixed emotions” about the RV.
“The area was nice, next to a beach, that was kind of fun, but being in tight quarters with my family, sometimes you’ve got to get away from them,” he recalled.
Although Jordan missed hanging out with his friends back home during the summers, he benefited from the club lacrosse experience, rising to No. 48 in Inside Lacrosse’s recruiting rankings. Faison didn’t receive as much attention for football until later in his career as a quarterback and defensive back at Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale.
His recruiting went into three tracks: lacrosse only, lacrosse/football and football only. He wanted to play both sports and discussed the possibility with schools such as Duke and Ohio State, as well as Notre Dame.
The only deal breaker, according to Quincy, is that Jordan couldn’t play quarterback along with a second sport. Jordan also considered schools like Syracuse and Michigan for lacrosse. In the fall of 2021, he committed to Notre Dame for lacrosse, but his football recruitment would eventually pick up.
Iowa, which doesn’t have a lacrosse program, offered Faison for football. About a year after he committed to Notre Dame, he visited Iowa City.
“Recruiting is majorly different between football and lacrosse, the budgets are different, how they treat the athletes,” Quincy said. “So going on lacrosse visits and then going to Iowa, the red carpet’s rolled out, you’ve got your own hotel room, they’re feeding you, so he got googly-eyed. He was actually thinking about just going to Iowa. I said, ‘There’s a lot more into this.’ He gave it some consideration, that’s for sure.”
But Jordan ultimately stuck with Notre Dame even though his football path wasn’t set in stone. The decision has paid off and rubbed off on Dylan, who in March became the first football recruit to commit for Notre Dame’s 2026 class. Dylan plays the same position (wide receiver) and starred in the same sports as his big brother.
Although lacrosse recruiting doesn’t begin until September of a prospect’s junior year in high school, Dylan is expected to be high on Notre Dame’s wish list. He and Jordan could play both sports together during the 2026-27 academic year, which is why Quincy and Kristen are looking to buy a small home near campus. Jordan said Dylan is better than he was at the same age, and boasts more length, at 5-foot-11, to complement his quickness.
“We had it in high school for a year, and being able to have it again here at this special place, it’s just unreal,” Jordan said. “We’ll definitely butt heads a bit, as all brothers do, but it will be really fun.”
NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL welcomed Jordan as a walk-on, but the plan wasn’t to play him, at least not right away, because his scholarship would convert to football and count against the team’s limit. Quincy had heard some buzz that Jordan would ultimately land a football scholarship, but perhaps not until 2025.
“We came into the season with no expectations,” Quincy said.
“I thought I’d probably be on the bench,” Jordan added.
But wide receiver injuries began to mount. Faison’s behind-the-scenes performance also made it increasingly more difficult to keep him out on Saturdays.
“We had an extra scholarship, but that was the last-case scenario,” Freeman said. “Then, we had some wideouts go down, and he was making too many plays in practice. We had to play him.”
Faison made his first career start the following week against USC, as Notre Dame crushed its rival 48-20. He recorded multiple receptions in six of the seven games he played and had 12 in the final three contests, hauling in a touchdown in each.
Some of his biggest plays came in the Sun Bowl against Oregon State, including a 33-yard sideline route early in the second half, where Faison beat airtight coverage to come down with quarterback Steve Angeli‘s pass.
“Coming in here with the goal of playing is the main thing, and then once you play, it’s like, ‘Now I’ve got to keep it rolling,'” Faison said. “Once you get it rolling, the confidence comes and then, with the confidence, that’s where you really see gains develop.”
A procrastinator during high school, Faison still must break old habits to navigate a unique and busy schedule. But he has dutifully followed the plans both teams laid out for him, and communicated with the staffs about potential conflicts. He still finds some downtime to nap or play video games.
Corrigan has seen many students become overwhelmed with the academic and athletic demands of one sport, much less two. But Faison has never lost the “quiet confidence” that he could perform in both sports. Freeman said he wants to support Faison’s future goals, whether or not they include football.
“I don’t know why he couldn’t keep doing this,” Corrigan said. “We have to protect him and his body, make sure he is getting enough rest over the course of the year.”
Faison’s immediate goal, one reinforced by Notre Dame’s lacrosse veterans, is to chase another championship. After another short break, he’ll switch back into football mode.
“He’s laid a solid foundation in his first year here, and we’ve got high expectations going into Year 2,” Freeman said. “He’s handling two different sports and all those demands.”
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