Published date: October 25, 2023, 08:59.
Last update date: October 25, 2023, 09:49.
The Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers are headed to the 2023 World Series. An unlikely matchup for the Commissioner’s Cup.
The World Series begins Friday in Arlington, Texas, with the Rangers’ 90-72 regular season record trailing the Diamondbacks’ 84-78 streak. The best-of-seven Fall Classic will be the first postseason meeting between the Rangers and Diamondbacks in MLB history.
Very few saw this matchup coming. After the Rangers went 68-94 and the Diamondbacks went 74-88 in 2022, with both teams missing the postseason, bettors bet on the Texas-Arizona World Series before the exceptionally long first pitch of the 2023 regular season.
BetMGM has the Rangers and Diamondbacks World Series at 1.750/1 (+175000). The line implies a 0.06% probability. A bet of just $10 on this long shot line would have netted $17,500.
According to sports betting tracking platform SportsOddsHistoryThe 2023 World Series is the second most unlikely matchup in MLB history behind the 1991 series between the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves. Each of these teams finished last in their respective leagues the previous season.
World Series Odds
Oddsmakers opened the World Series odds with the series favorite the Rangers.
Texas needs to be between -170 and -175 to win the best-of-seven series on DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM. Caesars Sportsbook had Texas favored slightly more at -185. A $100 winning bet on these odds would net you about $54 to $58. The lines roughly imply a 65% probability.
Arizona is the pre-series underdog at around +150. A $100 bet won on this line would net $150. The odds represent an estimated result of 40%.
As for the World Series MVP, Rangers star shortstop Corey Seager is hitting .333 with three home runs and six RBIs this postseason and is ahead of the odds at +500.
After winning the first two games of the American League Championship Series, the Rangers lost the next three games to the Houston Astros, forcing a game seven. Seager handed Texas an 11-4 rout of the defending champions and went three for five with a solo shot in the third.
We never lost confidence in what we were doing,” Seager said after the decisive seventh game that sent his team to the World Series for the first time since 2011.
Texas lost the 2011 World Series to St. Louis in seven. Lost to St. Louis Cardinals. The Rangers also went to the World Series in 2010 but also lost the Fall Classic. The Rangers have never won the World Series.
The Diamondbacks are advancing to the finals for the first time since the 2001 World Series, when Arizona won the MLB championship in seven games against the New York Yankees. The 2001 title came after just four years of the series’ existence. MLB awarded Phoenix an expansion franchise in 1995 to begin play in the 1998 regular season.
Arizona’s game seven win in Philly on Tuesday night was a big night for the books as the majority of the action was in Philadelphia.
Game 1 Match
Friday’s first speech is scheduled for 8:03pm EST. While neither club has yet confirmed their starting pitchers, Arizona will likely send one of their aces, Zac Gallen or Merrill Kelly, to start game one.
Texas is expected to add Jordan Montgomery, who has emerged as the team’s best player after regular-season injuries to veterans Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer.
Although Scherzer returned (he started Monday’s seventh game against the Astros) he reportedly suffered a new thumb injury after lasting just two and two-thirds innings. deGrom’s surgery was completed for the year after he underwent Tommy John surgery in June.
Caesars Sportsbook had Texas favored at -170 to win game one. The over/under is at 8.5 rounds.
