Takeaways from Rangers' stunning extra-innings win over D-backs in Game 1 of World Series
Fittingly, Game 1 of the World Series was the first of the 2023 postseason that needed extra innings to decide. Powered by two dramatic home runs late, including the walk-off deep fly from the red-hot Adolis Garcia, the Texas Rangers came from behind to top the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-5.
Here are three takeaways from a wild one in Arlington.
Walk-off HR helped Garcia make postseason history
Garcia's 11th-inning walk-off home run not only lifted the Rangers to a critical Game 1 victory, but it also helped the sharp-hitting outfielder make postseason history. With two RBI on the night, Garcia has 22 for the playoffs, which sets a new MLB mark.
In the first inning, Garcia tied the record held by David Freese (2011), singling home OF Evan Carter to help give the Rangers an early 2-0 advantage.
The ALCS MVP has gone deep in five straight postseason games and now trails only Daniel Murphy (6, 2015) for the longest streak in baseball history. Garcia also extended his postseason RBI streak to seven games, knocking in 17 runs over that stretch.
Garcia is only the second player to hit a walk-off home run in their World Series debut, joining Dusty Rhodes (1954), per OptaStats.
Corey Seager's heroic ninth-inning HR was a rare WS feat
Everyone dreams of hitting a huge home run in the bottom of the ninth in the World Series. Well, Seager got to live out that fantasy, smashing a game-tying two-run bomb to send the game to extra innings. According to Stathead, it was only the 14th ninth-inning home run by the trailing team to tie or take the lead in World Series history.
The Rangers' hit machine is also approaching an impressive honor. With his long ball in Game 1, Seager now has 17 career homers in the postseason. He trails only Carlos Correa (18) and Derek Jeter (20) for the most all-time by a shortstop in the playoffs.
Is bitter ending a good omen for D-backs?
The Diamondbacks erased an early 2-0 deficit and retook the lead, 5-3, in the fifth inning of Game 1, only to have it all come crumbling down late. While it may be challenging to find a silver lining following such a heartbreaking loss, history is on the Diamondbacks' side in the strangest way.
Over the eight World Series games in the franchise's history, Seager's ninth-inning HR was the third time the Diamondbacks have given up a game-tying two-run HR in the bottom of the ninth, all coming on the road. The other two came in 2001 when Tino Martinez (Game 4) and Scott Brosius (Game 5) of the New York Yankees victimized closer Byung-Hyun Kim on back-to-back nights.
While the trip down memory lane sounds horrible, the Diamondbacks bounced back from those two devasting losses to win Game 6 and 7, clinching their first-ever world championship. Perhaps Friday's bad luck is actually a sign of good things on the horizon.
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