The Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks punched their tickets in a pair of thrilling league championship series that went the distance. Both teams came from behind to win Games 6 and 7 on the road — with the D-backs upsetting the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park and the Rangers taking down their instate rivals, the reigning champion Houston Astros, at Minute Maid Park.
With the first pitch of World Series Game 1 scheduled for 8:03 p.m. ET at Globe Life Field, we dive into the players and matchups that matter most for both teams. We also asked our ESPN MLB experts to make their picks for who will win the Series, how many games it will take and who will be the MVP of this Fall Classic.
What’s on the line for the Rangers: The first World Series title in franchise history — ending a drought not as long as those the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs once had, and certainly not as infamous, but a long drought nonetheless. Born in 1961 as the second incarnation of the Washington Senators, the franchise moved to the Metroplex in 1972 and lost 205 games its first two seasons, later inspiring a book titled “Seasons in Hell.” The Rangers didn’t make the playoffs until 1996 and finally reached the World Series in 2010 and 2011. In 2010, they lost to their current manager, Bruce Bochy, and his San Francisco Giants in five games. In 2011, they fell to the St. Louis Cardinals in the most agonizing fashion: They were leading 7-5 in Game 6 entering the bottom of the ninth, only to blow the game and then drop Game 7 as well.
Bochy is already a future Hall of Famer based on the three titles he won with the Giants, but a fourth championship would put him in an elite inner circle that includes Casey Stengel (7), Joe McCarthy (7), Connie Mack (5), Walter Alston (4) and Joe Torre (4). Adolis Garcia, with seven home runs and 20 RBIs, has a chance to put his stamp on one of the greatest individual postseasons ever (he’s just one RBI from tying David Freese’s record of 21 in 2011). And here’s a fun one: Corey Seager could join Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson as the only two-time World Series MVPs. — David Schoenfield
Three reasons Texas can win:
The lineup: At the moment, Adolis Garcia is producing like a superstar from the cleanup spot, and if Marcus Semien and Corey Seager perform at the top of the lineup and continue to feed him RBI opportunities, the Rangers are incredibly difficult to beat. But what separates this lineup is its depth. Texas had Jonah Heim, an All-Star catcher this year, Nathaniel Lowe, a Silver Slugger Award-winning first baseman last year, and Josh Jung, a breakout rookie third baseman, occupying the Nos. 6, 7 and 8 spots, respectively, in its last two wins in Houston.
Nathan Eovaldi and Jordan Montgomery: The Rangers have some pitching concerns, to be sure, but not necessarily with these two. Eovaldi and Montgomery have combined for a 2.29 ERA in 51 innings this postseason, acting as major stabilizers at the top of the rotation. Eovaldi, with a 2.87 ERA in 69 career postseason innings, lines up to start Friday’s Game 1, and Montgomery, who recorded seven outs in relief of Max Scherzer in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, lines up for Saturday’s Game 2. The Rangers need Eovaldi and Montgomery to pitch deep into games, and so far they’ve been doing that.
Resilience: The Rangers lost eight consecutive games near the end of August, then won seven of eight near the end of September. They lost the division on the final day of the regular season, then reeled off seven consecutive postseason victories. They lost all three games played in their home park during the ALCS, highlighted by a gut-wrenching loss in Game 5, but then came back to win two straight in Houston to advance to the World Series. This is a relatively young group, but it has shown it can overcome practically anything. Bochy, of course, is a big part of that. — Alden Gonzalez
Where the Rangers are vulnerable: The back of the bullpen remains thin. Texas has gotten this far because Bochy has managed to steer his club into workable situations for his high-leverage crew, which, at this point, might just be Josh Sborz and Jose Leclerc. The Rangers’ staff is set up to cover innings in the event of a short outing from a starter, but where it gets dicey is protecting a one- or two-run lead for three or four innings. That’s Arizona’s task: Create high-leverage moments in the middle innings that force Bochy to extend his key relievers and risk wearing them out or turn to lead protectors he might prefer to avoid in key spots. — Bradford Doolittle
Jeff Passan’s inside intel:
One number from Garcia’s postseason stands out to scouts every bit as much as the seven home runs he has hit: zero walks. Typically, Garcia is not allergic to free passes — he took 65 this season — but his eagerness to swing this postseason could prove problematic if the Diamondbacks execute pitches. Among hitters with at least 30 plate appearances this postseason, Garcia is swinging at the highest percentage of pitches (58.9%) and has whiffed on 45 of the 192 pitches thrown to him, the most of any player.
As exceptional as he is at framing pitches, Rangers catcher Heim could be tested by Diamondbacks baserunners. Heim has a strong arm, but the transfer time between his glove and hand is well below average and leads to pop times — the length of time from when a ball hits a catcher’s glove to when it hits the fielder’s at second base — that are around the 50th percentile across baseball. To make up for that, it’s incumbent on Texas pitchers to be quick to the plate, a mandate that often throws them off their rhythm.
More than 70% of the Rangers’ 63 innings in the ALCS were thrown by five pitchers: Jordan Montgomery (14), Nathan Eovaldi (12.1), Max Scherzer (6.2), Josh Sborz (6) and Jose Leclerc (5.1). However good they were — especially Montgomery and Sborz — the biggest question about the Rangers is on whom Bochy can rely in the middle innings and in all of Games 3, 4 and, potentially, 7. Trusting Aroldis Chapman is a dicey proposition, with his propensity for walks. Jon Gray was great in the regular season but has pitched just one inning since coming off the injured list before the Houston series. Pitching depth was perhaps the foremost concern for the Rangers coming into this month, and even as they’ve reached the World Series, it hasn’t abated.
Arizona Diamondbacks
36.4% chance of winning | Caesars odds: +145
What’s on the line for the D-backs: The ultimate underdog wins it all. The Diamondbacks are already just the second team to reach the World Series after being outscored in the regular season, joining the 1987 Minnesota Twins. With an 84-78 record, the only World Series participants with a worse record were the 1973 New York Mets (82-79) and 2006 Cardinals (83-78). We can debate whether this devalues the regular season, but one way to look at it: You don’t have to build a superteam to win a World Series — and maybe that’s good for the sport.
After all, this is the first Fall Classic since 2016 without the Houston Astros or Los Angeles Dodgers, the two teams (and now joined by the Atlanta Braves) that have dominated the regular season in recent years. A little new blood isn’t the worst thing — even if the Diamondbacks weren’t a great team in the regular season. (Also: It gives those cheapskate owners no excuse in refusing to invest in their teams. The Diamondbacks are proof that any team can still win it all, not just the deep-pocketed blue bloods.) — Schoenfield
Three reasons Arizona can win
Pitching coach Brent Strom: Instead of naming a bunch of pitchers, let’s just pick the guy in charge of them. He’s a national treasure — whom few know about. He helped the Astros to their amazing playoff runs, and now he’s doing the same in Arizona. With few exceptions, every mound visit and every game plan from Strom seem to work. There’s no reason he can’t channel the same magic against a Rangers team that can’t brag about its bullpen the same way the D-backs can.
Corbin Carroll: We got a taste of his greatness in the final game of the National League Championship Series as he came alive against left-handed pitching and on the bases. The Rangers have great players, but pound for pound, Carroll can match them. Ketel Marte had his turn as the MVP last round; Carroll will take home that honor in the World Series — impacting the game in ways only he can.
Experience and confidence: The Rangers have had a nice run, but the D-backs have seen it all this postseason — and it should matter. They won’t get a more hostile environment in Texas than the one they just went through in Philadelphia, so playing on the road should be a piece of cake for them. The Rangers can thump, but there’s a sneaky balance to the Diamondbacks’ lineup, which has peaked at the right time. In other words, the D-backs are playing with extreme confidence. That wasn’t the case at the beginning of the last series, when they didn’t run or pitch very well. Expect a better start to the World Series in Games 1 and 2. — Jesse Rogers
Where the D-backs are vulnerable: Depending on how you want to view Arizona’s 6-5 win in Game 4 of the NLCS, the Diamondbacks haven’t really won any shootouts during the postseason, and it’s really not how they are built. It is, on the other hand, the thing that makes the Rangers look unbeatable at times — sheer firepower. The Diamondbacks have to play from ahead to win this series because the Rangers’ lineup is deep and momentum-based. Early rallies turn into unsightly crooked numbers in a hurry, and Texas is more adept at doing that than anyone. It’s incumbent that the Arizona starters keep the Rangers down early, because the Snakes simply can’t keep up if the Rangers’ offense gets on a roll. — Doolittle
Jeff Passan’s inside intel:
Not only is Gabriel Moreno one of the best defensive catchers in baseball, he has been the most clutch hitter for the Diamondbacks this postseason, leading the team with five hits with runners in scoring position, the third most this postseason behind Adolis Garcia (nine) and Texas DH Mitch Garver (six). To suggest that Arizona can match Texas’ offensive firepower would be foolish. But if the Diamondbacks want to win a ring, they’re going to have to be better with RISP. In 125 such plate appearances, the Rangers are hitting .296/.376/.519 this October. The D-backs? Just .245/.330/.340 in 113 opportunities.
Arizona needs to pitch backward, because the Rangers are crushing fastballs. The Rangers came into the postseason a good fastball-hitting team. Against four-seamers and sinkers in the 91-to-95-mph range — among Diamondbacks pitchers, only Kevin Ginkel, Miguel Castro and Luis Frias regularly throw theirs harder — Texas hit .279/.371/.496 in the regular season. In the playoffs, they’ve taken their midrange heater hitting up a level: .328/.400/.629, the best OPS of any playoff team that got out of the wild-card round.
In two NLCS innings, left-handed reliever Andrew Saalfrank walked seven batters. Manager Torey Lovullo trusted him in high-leverage spots against the Phillies’ left-handed mashers — and if Arizona continues its habit of pulling starting pitchers early, he’ll have to call upon the rookie at some point to handle a lineup that includes lefty hitters Corey Seager (who handles lefties well), Nathaniel Lowe and rookie Evan Carter (who are a combined 3-for-15 with one extra-base hit and one walk against southpaws this postseason).
Why are the Rangers the overwhelming choice here? Quite simply, we know more about them, and know they can handle the moment. Corey Seager has been a World Series MVP. Nathan Eovaldi is cemented as one of the best postseason pitchers of his generation. Bruce Bochy has three championship rings.
But I believe there’s also a lot of humility behind the Rangers’ standing as heavy favorites, because the prognosticators — like myself — have been wrong so often about the Diamondbacks. Through the years, you will hear the tiresome refrain from championship players about how no one believed in them, no one thought they could win. Well, in Arizona’s case, this is completely true — no one thought they would win the World Series, and so far they’ve knocked off the NL Central champion Brewers, the West champion Dodgers and the defending NL champion Phillies. Hell, the Diamondbacks have probably surprised themselves. By now, could anyone be truly shocked if Arizona wins the World Series? — Buster Olney
How do you think the D-backs can do it? Let’s put it this way, dear reader: I was the only expert here to pick the Diamondbacks to beat the Phillies in the NLCS. I’ll let you decide if that makes me the expert of experts, but I’m sure not going to jump off the bandwagon now. Arizona can beat the Rangers the same way it beat the Phillies: good enough starting pitching, shutdown relief, good defense and a little daring on the basepaths. Indeed, the D-backs played it a little cautious early in the NLCS, maybe a little too afraid of making outs. In Game 6, they stole four bases. In Game 7, they stole four more bases. And keep in mind the D-backs twice beat Phillies closer Craig Kimbrel. The Rangers have similar concerns about their closer, Jose Leclerc, who has served up three home runs this postseason. — Schoenfield
ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton, one of the first known adopters of the torpedo bat, declined Tuesday to say whether he believes using it last season caused the tendon ailments in both elbows that forced him to begin this season on the injured list.
Last month, Stanton alluded to “bat adjustments” he made last season as a possible reason for the epicondylitis, commonly known as tennis elbow, he’s dealing with.
“You’re not going to get the story you’re looking for,” Stanton said. “So, if that’s what you guys want, that ain’t going to happen.”
Stanton said he will continue using the torpedo bat when he returns from injury. The 35-year-old New York Yankees slugger, who has undergone multiple rounds of platelet-rich plasma injections to treat his elbows, shared during spring training that season-ending surgery on both elbows was a possibility. But he has progressed enough to recently begin hitting off a Trajekt — a pitching robot that simulates any pitcher’s windup, arm angle and arsenal. However, he still wouldn’t define his return as “close.”
He said he will first have to go on a minor league rehab assignment at an unknown date for an unknown period. It won’t start in the next week, he added.
“This is very unique,” Stanton said. “I definitely haven’t missed a full spring before. So, it just depends on my timing, really, how fast I get to feel comfortable in the box versus live pitching.”
While the craze of the torpedo bat (also known as the bowling pin bat) has swept the baseball world since it was revealed Saturday — while the Yankees were blasting nine home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers — that a few members of the Yankees were using one, the modified bat already had quietly spread throughout the majors in 2024. Both Stanton and former Yankees catcher Jose Trevino, now with the Cincinnati Reds, were among players who used the bats last season after being introduced to the concept by Aaron Leanhardt, an MIT-educated physicist and former minor league hitting coordinator for the organization.
Stanton explained he has changed bats before. He said he has usually adjusted the length. Sometimes, he opts for lighter bats at the end of the long season. In the past, when knuckleballers were more common in the majors, he’d opt for heavier lumber.
Last year, he said he simply chose his usual bat but with a different barrel after experimenting with a few models.
“I mean, it makes a lot of sense,” Stanton said. “But it’s, like, why hasn’t anyone thought of it in 100-plus years? So, it’s explained simply and then you try it and as long as it’s comfortable in your hands [it works]. We’re creatures of habit, so the bat’s got to feel kind of like a glove or an extension of your arm.”
Stanton went on to lead the majors with an average bat velocity of 81.2 mph — nearly 3 mph ahead of the competition. He had a rebound, but not spectacular, regular season in which he batted .233 with 27 home runs and a .773 OPS before clubbing seven home runs in 14 playoff games.
“It’s not like [it was] unreal all of a sudden for me,” Stanton said.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone described the torpedo bats “as the evolution of equipment” comparable to getting fitted for new golf clubs. He said the organization is not pushing players to use them and insisted the science is more complicated than just picking a bat with a different barrel.
“There’s a lot more to it than, ‘I’ll take the torpedo bat on the shelf over there — 34 [inches], 32 [ounces],'” Boone said. “Our guys are way more invested in it than that. And really personalized, really work with our players in creating this stuff. But it’s equipment evolving.”
As players around the majors order torpedo bats in droves after the Yankees’ barrage over the weekend — they clubbed a record-tying 13 homers in two games against the Brewers — Boone alluded to the notion that, though everyone is aware of the concept, not every organization can optimize its usage.
“You’re trying to just, where you can on the margins, move the needle a little bit,” Boone said. “And that’s really all you’re going to do. I don’t think this is some revelation to where we’re going to be; it’s not related to the weekend that we had, for example. Like, I don’t think it’s that. Maybe in some cases, for some players, it may help them incrementally. That’s how I view it.”
Eovaldi struck out eight and walked none in his fifth career complete game. The right-hander threw 99 pitches, 70 for strikes.
It was Eovaldi’s first shutout since April 29, 2023, against the Yankees and just the third of his career. He became the first Ranger with multiple career shutouts with no walks in the past 30 seasons, according to ESPN Research.
“I feel like, by the fifth or sixth inning, that my pitch count was down, and I feel like we had a really good game plan going into it,” Eovaldi said in his on-field postgame interview on Victory+. “I thought [Texas catcher Kyle Higashioka] called a great game. We were on the same page throughout the entire game.”
In the first inning, Wyatt Langford homered for Texas against Carson Spiers (0-1), and that proved to be all Eovaldi needed. A day after Cincinnati collected 14 hits in a 14-3 victory in the series opener, Eovaldi (1-0) silenced the lineup.
“We needed it, these bats are still quiet,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said of his starter’s outing. “It took a well-pitched game like that. What a game.”
The Reds put the tying run on second with two out in the ninth, but Eovaldi retired Elly De La Cruz on a grounder to first.
“He’s as good as I have seen as far as a pitcher performing under pressure,” Bochy said. “He is so good. He’s a pro out there. He wants to be out there.”
Eovaldi retired his first 12 batters, including five straight strikeouts during one stretch. Gavin Lux hit a leadoff single in the fifth for Cincinnati’s first baserunner.
“I think it was the first-pitch strikes,” Eovaldi said, when asked what made him so efficient. “But also, the off-speed pitches. I was able to get some quick outs, and I didn’t really have many deep counts. … And not walking guys helps.”
Spiers gave up three hits in six innings in his season debut. He struck out five and walked two for the Reds, who fell to 2-3.
The Rangers moved to 4-2, and Langford has been at the center of it all. He now has two home runs in six games to begin the season. In 2024, it took him until the 29th game of the season to homer for the first time. Langford hit 16 homers in 134 games last season during his rookie year.
Eli Lederman covers college football and recruiting for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2024 after covering the University of Oklahoma for Sellout Crowd and the Tulsa World.
USC secured the commitment of former Oregon defensive tackle pledge Tomuhini Topui on Tuesday, a source told ESPN, handing the Trojans their latest recruiting victory in the 2026 cycle over the Big Ten rival Ducks.
Topui, ESPN’s No. 3 defensive tackle and No. 72 overall recruit in the 2026 class, spent five and half months committed to Oregon before pulling his pledge from the program on March 27. Topui attended USC’s initial spring camp practice that afternoon, and seven days later the 6-foot-4, 295-pound defender gave the Trojans his pledge to become the sixth ESPN 300 defender in the program’s 2026 class.
Topui’s commitment gives USC its 10th ESPN 300 pledge this cycle — more than any other program nationally — and pulls a fourth top-100 recruit into the impressive defensive class the Trojans are building this spring. Alongside Topui, USC’s defensive class includes in-state cornerbacks R.J. Sermons (No. 26 in ESPN Junior 300) and Brandon Lockhart (No. 77); four-star outside linebacker Xavier Griffin (No. 27) out of Gainesville, Georgia; and two more defensive line pledges between Jaimeon Winfield (No. 143) and Simote Katoanga (No. 174).
The Trojans are working to reestablish their local recruiting presence in the 2026 class under newly hired general manager Chad Bowden. Topui not only gives the Trojans their 11th in-state commit in the cycle, but his pledge represents a potentially important step toward revamping the program’s pipeline to perennial local powerhouse Mater Dei High School, too.
Topui will enter his senior season this fall at Mater Dei, the program that has produced a long line of USC stars including Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley and Amon-Ra St. Brown. However, if Topui ultimately signs with the program later this year, he’ll mark the Trojans’ first Mater Dei signee since the 2022 cycle, when USC pulled three top-300 prospects — Domani Jackson, Raleek Brown and C.J. Williams — from the high school program based in Santa Ana, California.
Topui’s flip to the Trojans also adds another layer to a recruiting rivalry rekindling between USC and Oregon in the 2026 cycle.
Tuesday’s commitment comes less than two months after coach Lincoln Riley and the Trojans flipped four-star Oregon quarterback pledge Jonas Williams, ESPN’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in 2026. USC is expected to continue targeting several Ducks commits this spring, including four-star offensive tackle Kodi Greene, another top prospect out of Mater Dei.