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PHOENIX — Bruce Bochy barely had time to raise his arms toward the sky. His coaches showered him with hugs and pats on the back as soon as the last pitch of the 2023 season entered the strike zone, ending the Texas Rangers’ 5-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 5 of the World Series. When reliever Josh Sborz’s curveball landed in catcher Jonah Heim’s glove Wednesday night, Bochy disappeared, if only for a moment, reemerging to join his players on the field. He had thought about going back to nights like this in a dugout in Germany and on his couch in Nashville. He had wondered if he could manage again. He had now regained his usual place at this time of year: hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy to commemorate a title.
For the first time in franchise history, the Rangers can call themselves world champions. However, for the new kings of the sport, their cast was quite familiar with the setting. Bochy won the title for his fourth team. Corey Seager collected his second World Series MVP trophy. Nathan Eovaldi boosted the Rangers pitching staff the same way he did with the Boston Red Sox on their way to the 2018 crown. Texas GM Chris Young will add a World Series ring to a collection which already includes the ring he won as a player with the Kansas City Royals in 2015.
Bruce Bochy is one of five coaches to have won 4 #WorldSeries Titles.
t-1⃣ Joe McCarthy: 7 💍
t-1⃣ Casey Stengel: 7 💍
3⃣Connie Mack: 5 💍
t-4⃣ Bruce Bochy: 4 💍
t-4⃣ Walter Alston: 4 💍
t-4⃣ Joe Torre: 4 💍Bochy has won 15 of its last 16 postseason series. pic.twitter.com/NaGlpjs7u6
— El Atlético (@TheAthletic) November 2, 2023
Seager provoked the decisive reaction in the seventh inning. Eovaldi survived six difficult innings without capitulating. Bochy pushed the right buttons to keep Arizona at bay in the final frames. Watching Bochy act like a maestro with his relievers was like a trip to the sport’s recent past. He exuded joy as Texas put together a four-run burst in the ninth.
Bochy once ruled October. His San Francisco Giants captured three titles in five years in the 2010s. He became famous for his bullpen management. At 68, his ability hasn’t abandoned him, even if the act of throwing out a pitcher has become more dangerous. Bochy walks as if he has a stone in his shoe, but he doesn’t know which one. He once proselytized so much about the joy of walking that he wrote a book about it. But that was almost a decade ago, before his first retirement from coaching in 2019, after which he underwent a series of surgeries on his back, hips and knee. He spent the intervening hours golfing and fishing and was grateful to sit out the Covid-wrecked 2020 season.
A little over a year ago, Bochy returned to the bench. He wore the tricolor of France, his native country, while leading the club in the playoffs of the World Baseball Classic in Regensburg, Germany. The French were defeated, but the experience awakened something in Bochy. “I said, ‘Man, I really miss this,'” he said before Game 5.
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The opportunity to return came from Young, who played for Bochy in San Diego in the 2000s. Young considered Bochy the ideal candidate to lead the Rangers, a club loaded with unproven young players and high-priced free agents. Young visited Bochy at the retired captain’s home in Nashville and convinced him to return. The team intended to compete, but could not be sure of the schedule. At times in 2023, Texas seemed ready for prime time. At times, Rangers looked destined to finish in third place and spend October on the couch. The club rode a roller coaster, but they rode it until November, showing the resilience and mettle of a champion.
The Rangers refused to fold when Jacob deGrom, a $185 million offseason addition, required Tommy John surgery after just six starts. The team refused to give up as the Houston Astros captured the American League West on the final day of the regular season and then bombed Texas with three straight losses in the American League Championship Series. The team refused to give up when outfielder Adolis García and starter Max Scherzer suffered season-ending injuries in Game 3 of the World Series.
After deGrom went down, Young lined up his starting rotation at the trade deadline. After Houston took control of the American League Championship Series, Texas crushed its state rivals in Games 6 and 7 on the road at Minute Maid Park. After Garcia and Scherzer were injured, the Rangers kept humming, trampling Arizona’s relievers in Game 4 before finishing the job on Wednesday.
Game 5 cleansed the palate after a miserable, reliever-dominated Game 4. For Texas, Eovaldi overcame five walks and a ton of traffic. Arizona responded with Zac Gallen, its most successful starting pitcher. The series had reached this point because the Diamondbacks lacked depth in their rotation and bullpen.
Texas overwhelmed Arizona during the first two nights at Chase Field. The Rangers’ pitching staff kept the Diamondbacks off the bases in Game 3. A night later, Seager and Marcus Semien upset manager Torey Lovullo’s bullpen. In the hours before Game 5, Lovullo lamented his intentional walk of Seager in the second inning of Game 4. When reliever Kyle Nelson hit a slider, Seager hit his third home run of the series. Later, Lovullo admitted that he agreed with his online critics, a group he referred to as “the keyboard bangers in the basement.” In this case, the basement dwellers were right. “It wasn’t a big decision on my part,” Lovullo said. “I have to improve, there is no doubt about that.”
Lovullo had fewer decisions to make in the first innings of Game 5. Gallen, Arizona’s last defensive lineman, took the field at 5:03 p.m. local time. Fireworks exploded over the stadium as Gallen led the Diamondbacks onto the diamond. For many years, as Arizona stumbled to the bottom of the National League West, Gallen offered hope. A slow September cost him a chance to win the NL Cy Young Award this season. Gallen had to deal with first innings problems throughout the month of October. Arizona still relied on him to keep the season alive.
Gallen operated with impeccable fastball control to start Game 5. He sat out the first 14 batters he faced. He used the heater to challenge the Rangers inside the strike zone and threw off-speed pitches outside the zone. In the first inning, he retired Seager with a well-placed 1-2 changeup. Seager caught the pitch and grounded out. Three innings later, Gallen threw a first-pitch changeup in a similar spot. Seager reached again and grounded a grounder to the right side of the infield. Seven of Gallen’s first 12 outs hit the ground. He needed 35 pitches to finish four innings.
The Diamondbacks put a lot more pressure on Eovaldi. Arizona rookie Corbin Carroll led off the first inning with a walk on four pitches and stole second base on Eovaldi’s fifth pitch. Outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. led off the second with a single. Carroll recorded a hit to start the third, with second baseman Ketel Marte walking behind him. On all three occasions, Eovaldi left the runners stranded. After veteran infielder Evan Longoria doubled with two outs in the fourth, Eovaldi didn’t panic. He caught ninth hitter Geraldo Perdomo looking at a 94 mph fastball to escape. Arizona went hitless in eight first at-bats with runners in scoring position.
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Texas tagged Gallen in the fifth. He still kept them off the board. Gurriel took advantage of a good hit by rookie third baseman Josh Jung in the space between left and center. A two-out walk by first baseman Nathaniel Lowe ended Gallen’s improbable attempt at a perfect game. Gallen recovered by hitting Heim with a curveball in the dirt.
Eovaldi bowed and bowed and bowed some more at the bottom of the entrance. He didn’t break. Marte walked and first baseman Christian Walker singled to right field. A walk by designated hitter Tommy Pham loaded the bases. Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux visited the mound. It’s unlikely that he ordered Eovaldi to throw a curveball at the top of the strike zone. But that’s what Eovaldi did, and Gurriel hit Seager’s glove with the shot for the third out.
Gallen allowed his first hit in the seventh. Of course, it was Seager. His single lacked the hard-hitting impact of his home runs earlier in the series. He hit a curveball, again placed by Gallen in the low and far quadrant that stumped Seager early in the game. This time, Seager sliced enough of the baseball to fire it across the empty field near third base.
A miniature demonstration followed. Texas rookie Evan Carter scored a double on a misplaced curveball. Mitch Garver, the designated hitter, hit a go-ahead single up the middle to score Seager and give Texas a 1-0 lead. Gallen received a standing ovation for his efforts. He would still leave the game hooked by the bad luck of defeat.
Bochy turned to his trio of high-leverage relievers for the final nine outs. Aroldis Chapman picked up two. Bochy made a long trip to the mound to activate Sborz. Sborz finished the seventh and avoided a walk with two outs in the eighth. The tension eased for Texas in the top of the ninth. The Rangers had three singles against Arizona closer Paul Sewald. The third, hit by Heim, went under the glove of center fielder Alek Thomas and drove in two runs.
The Texas dugout erupted when Heim’s ball rolled into the wall. Bochy was on the top step. He offered one of his huge gloves for a high-five as his players crossed home plate. He cheered and smiled a few batters later, when Semien put the champagne on ice with a two-run home run. Bochy was able to smile during the last three outs. He had been to this summit before. He understood that he never grew old.
On a couch in Nashville, on the bench in Germany, a night like this might have seemed like a dream. On Wednesday night, for the fourth time in his decorated coaching career, Bochy was able to become champion.
Required reading
(Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)