World Series Game 5: Texas Rangers v Arizona Diamondbacks – live

Hi folks, welcome to our coverage of Game 5 of the 2023 World Series! There are quite a few questions to be answered tonight, the most important being: will the Texas Rangers be flying home after the game for the very first title celebration in the history of the franchise? Or instead, gearing up for a Globe Life Field Game 6 v Arizona on Friday.

Fans of the Rangers, who have been waiting since 1972 for that elusive World Series championship, would presumably like to wrap it up tonight, since many of their loyals are still smarting from 2011 when they came within a single strike of winning it all v St Louis before their epic collapse. Overall, it’s been a 62-year title drought, going back to the franchises first season in 1961 when they were the Washington Senators. That dryspell ranks second only to Cleveland, who hasn’t popped a Fall Classic cork since way back in 1948. So there is history to be made, and the chances are Texas will make it, and if not tonight, soon enough. Teams with a 3-1 World Series lead have won 85.7% of the time. The last team to upend the trend was the 2016 Chicago Cubs, who broke their drought of over 100 years by famously turning the tables on Cleveland.

So we have ourselves an elimination game, something that seemed a little bit less improbable when the Rangers lost one of their offensive cogs to injury in Game 3. Adolis Garcia, the ALCS MVP and one of the most entertaining players in all of baseball, strained his left oblique and is down for the season. Also in that game, the frail Max Scherzer injured his back, and so the Rangers potential Game 7 starter is also on the shelf. None of this seemed to bother Texas who came out and thrashed Arizona in Game 4 11-7, thanks in part to Corey Seager’s third dinger in the four Fall Classic games - more on that later.

The Rangers are in the driver’s seat, especially with starter Nathan Eovaldi taking the ball for Texas, even if Arizona became the rare team to touch up this playoff ace in Game 1. That said, if you’re a fan of the Diamondbacks, Zach Gallen is the guy you want on the hill, though he will have to be better than he was in the series opener when he gave up three runs in five innings in a game Arizona absolutely should have won.

Game 5 is coming up shortly, so get your popcorn ready and if you fancy it, join the show! Tweet (X?) over your innermost thoughts to @LengelDavid. Or, if you prefer, hit me up on email. Stand by and stick with us!