The Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers are headed to the 2023 World Series. It s a most unlikely matchup for the Commissioner s Trophy.
The Arizona Diamondbacks celebrate reaching the World Series after beating the Philadelphia Phillies in Philadelphia in game seven of the National League Championship Series on Oct. 24, 2023. The Diamondbacks are the underdogs against the Texas Rangers in the Fall Classic. (Image: MLB)The World Series begins on Friday in Arlington, Texas, as the Rangers regular-season record of 90-72 topped the Diamondbacks 84-78 campaign. The best-of-seven Fall Classic will mark the first time in MLB history that the Rangers and Diamondbacks meet in the postseason.
Few saw this matchup coming. After the Rangers went 68-94 and the Diamondbacks 74-88 in 2022, with both teams missing the postseason, oddsmakers had a Texas-Arizona before the first pitch of the 2023 regular season extraordinarily long.
put a Rangers and Diamondbacks World Series at 1,750/1 (+175000). The line implies a likelihood of 0.06%. A $10 bet on that long shot line would have netted $17,500.
According to sports betting tracking platform SportsOddsHistory, the 2023 World Series is the second most unlikely matchup in MLB history, behind only the 1991 series between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves. Each team had finished dead last in their divisions in the previous season.
World Series OddsOddsmakers opened their World Series odds with the Rangers, the series favorites.
DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM have Texas around -170 to -175 to win the best-of-seven series. Caesars Sportsbook has Texas favored slightly more at -185. A winning $100 bet on those odds nets about $54 to $58. The lines imply a likelihood of roughly 65%.
Arizona is the preseries underdog at around +150. A winning $100 wager on that line would net $150. The odds represent a forecast outcome of 40%.
As for the World Series MVP, Rangers star shortstop Corey Seager, who has hit .333 this postseason with three home runs and six RBIs, is the betting front-runner at +500.
Rangers,Diamondback StatsAfter winning the first two games of the American League Championship Series, the Rangers lost the next three to the to force a game seven. Seager led Texas to an 11-4 rout of the defending champs by going three for five with a solo dinger in the third.
We never lost confidence in what we do, Seager said after the decisive game seven that sent his team to the World Series for the first time since 2011.
Texas lost the 2011 World Series in seven to the . The Rangers also went to the World Series in 2010 but lost that Fall Classic, too. The Rangers have never won the World Series.
The Diamondbacks are making their first trip to the finale since the 2001 World Series, in which Arizona won the MLB championship in seven games over the New York Yankees. The 2001 title came just four years into the franchise s existence. MLB awarded Phoenix an expansion franchise in 1995 to begin play during the 1998 regular season.
Arizona s game seven win on Tuesday night in Philly was a big night for the books, as most of the action was on Philadelphia.
Game 1 MatchupFriday s first pitch is slated for 8:03 p.m. EST. Though neither club has confirmed starting pitchers, Arizona will likely send one of its aces, Zac Gallen or Merrill Kelly, to start game one.
Texas will presumably start Jordan Montgomery, who has emerged as the team s ace after veterans Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer suffered regular-season injuries.
Though Scherzer is back he started Monday s game seven against the he s reportedly dealing with a new thumb injury after lasting just two and two-thirds innings. deGrom is done for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery in June.
Caesars Sportsbook has Texas favored at -170 to win game one. The over/under is at 8.5 runs.
