World Series Game Four: Don't Mess With Texas

Entering Game Four of this year's World Series, the Texas Rangers had two things: a 2-1 lead and some scary news on a Halloween night. A pair of their top players are down for the Fall Classic. First off, Max Scherzer. "Mad Max" left Game Three due to injury, doing so after pitching just three innings. The second one is as shocker: Adolis Garcia. The possible frontrunner for the World Series MVP nod also became injured, and is done for the rest of the Series. That is a big blow to the Rangers, as the Arizona Diamondbacks looked to even things up, with a chance to take the Series lead at home.

The pitching matchup was Andrew Heaney vs Joe Mantiply, and it was definitely not a quiet start. The first inning was scoreless, but the floodgates opened in the second inning. A wild pitch scored Josh Jung, two runs were driven in by Marcus Semien, and Corey Seager hit yet another two-run homer--his third of this Series. It was 5-0 after two innings, and after putting up their five spot in the second, the Rangers asked, "Wanna see us do it again?"

After Leody Taveras struck out on Ball Four, which would have walked in a run, as the bases were loaded, Travis Jankowski (batting in Garcia's spot), drove in two runs, and that was followed by Semien's three-run shot. It's 10-0 after three innings. Yikes! Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. homered to get the D'Backs off the schnide, but even so, it was 10-1 and that score was holding up. Jonah Heim's solo shot made it 11-1, but even without it, the game was done. Despite this, Arizona managed to make the score look a bit better with four runs in the eighth (Tommy Pham sac fly and a Gurriel three-run HR), and their threat of an attempted massive comeback only saw Gabriel Moreno drive in two runs. Even so, it was enough to force the Rangers to put in Jose Leclerc to get the final out, and he did just that.

Wow! What an offense-filled explosion from the Rangers! The leader of this big game was Marcus Semien, who drove in five runs and had the business half of a cycle (a triple and a home run). In addition, Corey Seager hit his third home run of this year's Series. Yeah, he is definitely going to get his second World Series MVP should Texas finish this off. This game was over after three innings, though Arizona getting those late runs was quite interesting. The Diamondbacks scored six total runs in the eighth and ninth innings, and while they were definitely not enough to mount a comeback, it was definitely a case of the Diamondbacks giving it the old college try.

The Rangers won Game Four, 11-7, to take a commanding 3-1 lead in this year's Fall Classic. This is their 63rd season of play, as they debuted in 1961 as the second Washington Senators team, replacing the original franchise that moved to Minnesota and became the Twins. After playing 11 seasons (1961-1971) in Washington, D.C., Senators 2.0 moved to Arlington, Texas in 1972 and became the Texas Rangers, though their success remained minimal for decades. They wouldn't reach the postseason until 1996, and would not win a series until 2010, which saw them win their first of back-to-back pennants. In their 63rd season, the Rangers are one win away from their first World Championship, and they are in a good position. In World Series history, teams who lead 3-1 win the Series 86% of the time.

Game Five is Wednesday in Phoenix.

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