PHOENIX — It was fitting that the Texas Rangers won their first World Series title on the road Wednesday night.
The Rangers hadn’t lost a road game since the postseason started, so why stop in Game 5 of the World Series?
The Rangers’ 5-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks capped an epic postseason for the Rangers, and not just because they won their first title in franchise history.
Texas did something that no other Major League team had ever done before — win 11 postseason games in a row.
From Tampa Bay to Baltimore to Houston to Arizona, every time they stepped on a field that wasn’t Globe Life Field back in Arlington, they won.
Along the way they broke the previous record of nine straight postseason road wins, set by the 1996-97 and 1937-42 New York Yankees, who spanned their streaks over multiple seasons.
So the Rangers aren’t the only team to go undefeated on the road in a single postseason. But their streak is the longest.
The question of why has been asked a lot this World Series. Everyone has a different answer, but the core of the message has always been the game — these Rangers, it seems, see themselves as a tight group, especially on the road, where there are few places to hide from each other.
The good thing is these guys always seem down for a good hang.
“We’re not landing and going straight to our rooms and not hanging out,” Rangers pitcher Will Smith said. “We would go to team dinners. We would go play cards in somebody’s room so we’d always be around each other if our families weren’t in town. It’s just a matter of, I don’t know, hanging out.”
Along with the streak, the Rangers now have the best road playoff winning percentage of any franchise that has played at least 25 playoff games. With a record of 23-15, that winning percentage now stands at .605.
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