The Rangers continued their incredible postseason trend in Game 3 of the World Series.
It’s not just that they’re now up, 2-1, in the championship round after a 3-1 win on Monday at Chase Field, but how they’ve gotten to this point. The Rangers are now 9-0 on the road in the postseason, which is a new MLB record for road wins in a postseason.
Making it a bit more improbable? During the regular season, the Rangers were 19 games over .500 at home, and one game under .500 on the road. No, seriously.
MORE: Latest injury updates on Rangers star Adolis Garcia
Let's take a look at some news and notes from Game 3.
Gray is 50 shades of awesome
Jon Gray was the “other” guy in the Rangers’ dynamic offseason a few years ago, the winter they handed out massive headline-grabbing contracts to middle infielders Corey Seager and Marcus Semien. Gray signed his four-year, $56-million deal at the end of November.
Gray was the “other” guy in the 2023 Rangers rotation, too. Again, his prominence was pushed aside — outside the organization, of course, not with the club — by flashy offseason signings Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi, and even Andrew Heaney.
To every single person watching on Monday, though, he was not the “other” guy in Game 3. He was very much “the” guy.
Gray was called into duty when Texas starter Max Scherzer was forced to leave with tightness in his back as he tried to begin the fourth inning. Given that it was an injury situation, Gray was given as much time as he needed to get ready. And ready he was when the first Diamondback came up to the plate.
"It’s a moment to pick up the guys, to come in and let it not turn into something bad for us,” Gray said during his mid-game interview with Fox’s Ken Rosenthal. “Just really come out and attack, and I thought that’s what we did.”
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Gray retired the first eight Arizona batters he faced, and it would have been a perfect nine-for-nine had Semien hauled in a line drive by Ketel Marte that went for a single. Undaunted, Gray quickly retired Gabriel Moreno to end the inning.
And just like that, he was done. Three of the biggest innings of his life, basically flawless performance. He didn’t say anything about it during the interview, but that one had to feel good. His first playoff outing was way back in 2017, when Gray started the Wild Card game for the Rockies against, you guessed it, the Diamondbacks and manager Torey Lovullo, at Chase Field, the same ballpark Game 3 was played in.
That game was a bit of a disaster. Gray was chased with one out in the second inning, having allowed seven hits and four runs, including a home run by Paul Goldschmidt and an RBI single by Marte. This appearance must have been a bit more fun.
Rosenthal asked him, standing in the dugout, if he was enjoying the moment.
Gray flashed a big smile. “It’s a lot of fun, yeah.”
Seager, again
Even in his “bad” World Series, Corey Seager still hit a home run, had four RBIs scored four runs and rapped out hits in five of the seven 2017 contest.
Most any player would quickly sign up for that kind of production.
For Seager, he was apparently just establishing a baseline. You remember his 2020 World Series for the ages; his Dodgers won the title and Seager took home World Series MVP honors. In the six games, Seager had a .400 average and 1.256 OPS, with two homers, five RBIs and seven runs scored.
Apparently Saeger was just establishing his new normal. Through three World Series games, Seager has hit two epic home runs. The first one, the game-tying shot with one out in the ninth inning, was incredible. The second one, another two-run shot, this time in the third inning of Game 3, was pretty darn important, too
That one held up, mostly because of Gray’s strong relief outing.
It also puts Seager in the driver’s seat for yet another World Series MVP trophy, should the Rangers win the World Series. There’s still a long way to go, of course, but you can’t help but wonder what else Seager has in store.
Garcia, Scherzer injuries are concerning
The Rangers are up in the World Series, but a pair of injuries that happened in Game 3 are very concerning.
Scherzer, of course, left with tightness in his back. He’s in line to start a possible Game 7, but now that’s very much in doubt. What happens if he can’t go? If his outing Monday was an audition, you’d have to think Gray would be ready to step in, but that takes him out of the bullpen for Game 5, most likely.
MORE: How Max Scherzer injury impacts Rangers' World Series pitching plans
Maybe the bigger potential issue, though, is Adolis Garcia. He grabbed at his oblique when he flew out to end the seventh inning, went into the clubhouse and didn’t come back.
Adolis Garcia is coming out of the game after grabbing his oblique after this swing, per @Buster_ESPN pic.twitter.com/wF0n6VFiUt
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 31, 2023
It’s impossible to overstate how important Garcia has been for the Rangers this month. He’s tied for second all-time in home runs in a single postseason, with eight. And he outright owns the record for most RBIs in a single postseason, with 22. And it feels like every single one of those home runs and RBIs came in clutch moments; history will never forget his walk-off solo home run in the 11th inning of Game 1.
More than that, he’s been the emotional leader for this club, and he’s made a couple great defensive plays, with his glove and his arm — Game 3 changed when he threw out Christian Walker at home in the third inning. His loss would be felt in every aspect of the game.
The Rangers and their fans eagerly — dreadfully — are waiting for an update.