The Rangers capture the first World Series in franchise history, and Bruce Bochy wins his fourth

PHOENIX — Bruce Bochy barely had time to raise his arms toward the sky. His coaches mobbed him with hugs and back slaps as soon as the final pitch of the 2023 season entered the strike zone, ending the Texas Rangers’ 5-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 5 of the World Series. When Josh Spurs’ curveball landed in the glove of catcher Jonah Heim on Wednesday night, Bochy disappeared, if only for a moment, only to reappear to join his players on the field. He thought back to nights like this in a bunker in Germany and on his couch in Nashville. He wondered if he could manage it again. He has now regained his usual place at this time of year: hoisting the Commissioner’s Cup to commemorate the title.

For the first time in franchise history, the Rangers can call themselves World Champions. However, for the new kings of the sport, their crew was all too familiar with the stage. Bochy managed his fourth team to win the title. Corey Seager received the World Series Most Valuable Player Trophy for the second time. Nathan Eovaldi backed the Rangers pitching staff just as he did the Boston Red Sox en route to the 2018 crown. Texas general manager Chris Young will add a World Series ring to a collection that already includes the ring he won as a player with the Kansas City Royals in 2015.

Seager fired the go-ahead home run in the seventh inning. Eovaldi survived six rocky innings without giving up. Bochy pressed the right buttons to stave off Arizona in the final frames. Watching Bochy act like a maestro with his teammates felt like a trip into the sport’s recent past. He delighted when Texas put together a four-run flurry in the ninth.

Bushi once ruled October. His Giants captured three titles within five years in the 2000s. He became famous for his management of bull games. At 68 years old, his skill has not given up, even if the process of removing the pitcher has become more dangerous. Bushy walks like there’s a rock in his shoe but he can’t make out which one. He once talked so much about the joy of walking that he wrote a book about it. But that was nearly 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, fishing and feeling grateful not to participate in the coronavirus-ravaged 2020 season.

A little more than a year ago, Boushie returned to the dugout. He wore the tricolor flag of France, the country of his birth, as he managed the club in the World Baseball Classic Trials in Regensburg, Germany. The French were defeated, but the experience awakened something within Bushy. “I was like, ‘Man, I really miss this,’” he said before Game 5.

The chance to return came from Young, who played for Bushey in San Diego in the 2000s. Young considered Boushie the ideal candidate to sponsor the Rangers, a club full of young, unproven players and high-priced free agents. Young visited Boushie at the retired skipper’s home in Nashville and convinced him to return. The team intended to compete, but was unsure of the schedule. At times in 2023, Texas looked ready for prime time. At times, the Rangers looked headed for third place and spent October on the couch. It was a rollercoaster for the club, but they rode it all the way through November, showing the resilience and determination befitting a champion.

The Rangers refused to fold when $185 million offseason addition Jacob deGrom required Tommy John surgery after just six starts. The team refused to fold when the Houston Astros captured the American League West on the final day of the regular season and later blasted the Texans to three straight losses in the AL Championship Series. The team refused to fold when outfielder Adelis Garcia and starter Max Scherzer suffered season-ending injuries in Game 3 of the World Series.

After deGrom went down, Young revamped his rotation at the trade deadline. After Houston dominated the ALCS, Texas crushed its in-state rivals in Games 6 and 7 on the road at Minute Maid Park. After injuries to Garcia and Scherzer, the Rangers continued to run roughshod over Arizona relievers in Game 4 before finishing the job on Wednesday.

Game 5 cleansed the palate after a miserable Game 4 dominated by relievers. For Texas, Eovaldi overcame five lanes and a boatload of traffic. Arizona countered with Zach Gallen, its most accomplished pitcher. The series got to this point because the Diamondbacks lacked depth in their rotation and bullpen.

Texas overwhelmed Arizona through 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 turned the bullpen around for coach Torey Lovullo. In the hours leading up to Game 5, Lovullo lamented not intentionally walking Seager in the second inning of Game 4. When reliever Kyle Nelson hung a slider, Seager hit his third home run of the Series. In the aftermath, Lovullo admitted that he agreed with his online critics, a group he referred to as the “basement keyboard strikers.” The basement dwellers, in this case, were right. “It wasn’t a great decision by me,” Lovullo said. “I have to be better, 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. Fireworks exploded over the field as Gallen led the Diamondbacks to the diamond. For many years, as Arizona State stumbled into the basement of the National League West, Gallen offered hope. A slow September cost him a chance to win the NL Cy Young Award that season. Gallen dealt with early inning woes throughout October. Arizona still trusts him to keep the season alive.

Gallen worked the original fastball order at the start of Game 5. He sat the first 14 batters he faced. He used the heater to challenge the Rangers inside the strike zone and set up off-speed pitches outside the zone. In the first inning, Seager retired a well-placed 1-2 change. Seager made a catch for the pitch and was grounded. Three innings later, Gallen changed the first pitch to a similar spot. Seager reached back and rolled a grounder to the right side of the infield. Seven of Jalen’s first 12 points came from the floor. He needed 35 pitches to finish four innings.

The Diamondbacks put more pressure on Eovaldi. Arizona rookie Corbin Carroll led off the first inning with a four-pitch walk and stole second base on Eovaldi’s fifth pitch. Outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. opened the second with a single. Carroll recorded a hit of his own to start the third inning, with second baseman Ketil Marte trailing behind him. On all three occasions, Eovalde stranded runners. After veteran Evan Longoria scored twice in the fourth period, Eovaldi didn’t panic. He caught No. 9 hitter Geraldo Perdomo looking at a 94 mph fastball for an escape. Arizona had no hits in eight early at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Texas taxed Jalen on fifth down. Still keeps them off the board. Gurriel ran a good shot off rookie third baseman Josh Jung into the left-center gap. A two-out walk by first baseman Nathaniel Lowe ended Gallen’s unlikely bid for a perfect game. Gallen recovered by whiffing Heim with a curveball into the dirt.

Eovaldi bent and bent and bent some more in the bottom of the inning. Not broken. Marty walked and first baseman Christian Walker sprayed a single into right field. A walk by designated hitter Tommy Pham loaded the bases. Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddox visited the mound. It is unlikely that he ordered Eovaldi to float a curveball at the top of the strike zone. But that’s what Eovaldi did – and Gurriel put the creaser into Seager’s glove to take out the third.

Gallen allowed his first hit in the seventh inning. Of course, it was Seager. His single lacked the concussive hits of his comrades earlier in the series. He swung at a curveball, which Jalen identified again on the low-and-away quarter that had flummoxed Seager earlier in the game. This time, Seager clipped enough of the baseball to launch it through the vacated dirt near third base.

A mini-march ensued. Texas rookie Evan Carter cracked a misplaced curveball. Mitch Garver, the designated hitter, hit a go-ahead run up the middle to score Seager and give Texas a 1-0 lead. Gallen received a standing ovation for his efforts. He will still come out of the game on the hook for a bad luck loss.

Bochy turned to a trio of high-leverage relievers for the final nine. Aroldis Chapman picked up two. Bochy made a long drive to the mound to activate Sborz. Sborz finished seventh and walked two in the eighth. The tension calmed down for Texas in the top of the ninth. The Rangers compiled three singles against Arizona closer Paul Seewald. The third, hit by Heim, curled under the glove of center fielder Alec Thomas and led to two runs.

The Texas dugout erupted when Heim’s ball rolled into the wall. Bushi stood at the top of the stairs. He offered one of his huge gloves to five batters as his players crossed the plate. He clapped his hands and grinned later, when Semien put the champagne on ice with a two-run home run. Bochy can smile during the final three stages. He had stood at this summit before. He understood that he never got old.

On a couch in Nashville, in a bunker in Germany, a night like this might have seemed like a dream. And on Wednesday night, for the fourth time in his decorated managerial career, Boushie can call himself a champion.

(Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)