Diamondbacks-Rangers World Series Shows That Baseball Narratives Don’t Matter
The Arizona Diamondbacks are heading to the World Series, beating the heavily favored Philadelphia Phillies in seven games in the National League Championship Series.
It’s the third consecutive series the Diamondbacks have won as underdogs, after sweeping both the Milwaukee Brewers and 100-win Los Angeles Dodgers. It’s an impressive achievement for a team that won just 84 games and was outscored in the regular season.
Their wins in Game 6 and Game 7 defied expectations, considering the Phillies seeming home field advantage. Similarly, the Rangers came from behind down 3-2 to win two consecutive games on the road against the defending World Series champion Houston Astros.
In advancing to the World Series, both teams thoroughly debunked a number of postseason narratives. Hopefully once and for all.
PHILADELPHIA - OCTOBER 24: Lourdes Gurriel Jr. of the Arizona Diamondbacks celebrates in the clubhouse after beating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 in Game Seven of the Championship Series at Citizens Bank Park. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
Diamondbacks Defeat The Phillies And Media Talking Points
This year, the narrative in the NLCS was that the Phillies were essentially unbeatable at Citizens Bank Park. Their crowd was just too loud, too intimidating, too hostile for opposing teams to win.
The offense, led by superstars like Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner, were able to elevate their postseason performance thanks to the raucous atmosphere and the fans’ “blue collar” mentality.
Yet in games 6 and 7, Schwarber, Harper, Turner and Nick Castellanos went a combined 1-28 against Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt and a host of mostly unknown Diamondbacks relievers. At Citizens Bank Park. Where the crowd noise was so loud, we were told, commentators were willing to stake their entire careers on the Phillies winning.
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How could this happen?!
Because that’s how baseball works. Just like the Texas Rangers showed against the Astros.
Rangers Blew Game 5, Won Anyway
The Astros-Rangers series turned contentious during the three games in Arlington, mostly due to outfield Adolis Garcia’s bat slam celebration and the ensuing hit by pitch.
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The Astros stormed back in the 9th inning of Game 5, with Jose Altuve launching a go-ahead three-run home run to give Houston a 3-2 series lead. After the game, Astros catcher Martin Maldonado told the media that the worst thing Garcia had done was “wake up the Houston Astros.”
A 3-2 series lead, all the momentum from a massive, series changing home run from Altuve, being woken up by Garcia’s over-celebrating and home field advantage…all the narratives converged on the Astros getting to yet another World Series.
Except, Garcia went off in Houston. A grand slam in game 6 followed by two more home runs in game 7 as part of a four-hit, five-RBI day in an easy Rangers win.
Well who could have predicted this?
Diamondbacks-Rangers Show Randomness Of Baseball Playoffs
Momentum, home field advantage, “clutch” playoff performers, dominant starting pitching…all the narratives got obliterated over the past few days.
Astros starter Christian Javier had been nearly untouchable in October, developing a reputation as a clutch postseason performer. He got lit up in game 7 before being pulled early. Harper had been on a playoff rampage before going hitless in Philadelphia in the decisive games.
“The Bank” was going to will the Phillies to victory, with local media gleefully saying they’d “broken” the Diamondbacks in the first two games of the series. Nope.
The gap between teams in baseball is just too small, the advantages too minimal. Even the best teams have a 55-60% chance of winning on any given day; meaning they lose 40-45% of the time. It’s part of the mess baseball’s created for itself.
Narratives don’t matter, because most of who wins comes down to good fortune and perfectly timed performances. Teams don’t get to pick and choose when they play well. Momentum ends with the next at bat. There’s no way to predict who’s going to play well in October and who isn’t. Derek Jeter had many, many bad postseason performances.
Baseball is chaos. And the Diamondbacks and Rangers showed us that these past few days, yet again.