Outside The Confines: The Rangers win the World Series

Congratulations to the Texas Rangers, who won their first World Series title in their 63-year-old franchise history. That includes eleven seasons in Washington, who went 32 years without a team and still won a World Series with the Nationals before the Rangers did.

And my advice to any Rangers fans who may be reading this: enjoy every second of it. The Cubs’ 2016 title may not have technically been their first, but it was the first for every living Cubs fan. So we know how you are feeling right about now.

• Anthony Castrovince recaps how the Rangers won their first World Series.
• Castrovince also has five reasons the Rangers deserved this championship.
• Dan Szymborski analyzes the decisive Game 5.
• Sarah Langs has 13 “amazing” stats from the Rangers’ title run.
• Tom Verducci writes that the Rangers title was built on the trust given by general manager Chris Young.
• Andy McCullough looks at how Chris Young built the Rangers. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Hannah Keyser said the Rangers formula was simple: spend a lot of money, but only on the right players.
• Bob Nightengale looks at how the Rangers won a title and what it means to the long-suffering organization.
• Tyler Kepner speaks to many players through the history of the Rangers about their past disappointments and what this title means to them. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Kennedi Landry writes that manager Bruce Bochy was the key to the Rangers title.
• Ken Rosenthal reports that Bochy didn’t come out of retirement to lose. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Buster Olney looks back at Bochy’s managerial career and makes the case that he may be the greatest manager ever.
• R.J. Anderson has four reasons why the Rangers could be even better next year.
• Reliever Will Smith did something that no player had ever done before: he won three straight World Series titles with three different teams.
• The Diamondbacks are looking forward, with GM Mike Hazen saying that “We know we have a lot of work to do.”
• Nick Piecoro has five thoughts on Hazen’s postmortem press conference.
• Evan Drellich reports that Hazen regrets not acquiring another starter at the deadline. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• R.J. Anderson has three questions for the Diamondbacks heading into next year.
• There was a lot of hand-wringing over the Game 4 “bullpen” game (The Athletic sub. req.) in the World Series, and Michael Baumann agrees that it didn’t provide good baseball.
• However, Baumann agrees that the problem is what Mike Petriello writes of here:

That ties in with what Hazen said—they Diamondbacks just didn’t have enough starting pitching.

• Ben Clemens examines how Diamondbacks outfielder Tommy Pham turned his season around with an exceptional playoffs.
• Now that the Rangers have won their first World Series, Will Leitch asks which team wins their first World Series next?
• Marc Carig and Stephen J. Nesbitt rank the five “titleless” teams by how close they are to winning their first. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• David Schoenfield has an early power ranking for 2024.
• Mark Feinsand has 12 storylines for the offseason.
• On to the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes. Alden Gonzalez has the ten teams who will be chasing the two-way superstar. (ESPN+ sub. req.) The Cubs are on the list.
• And further into the Hot Stove, Keith Law ranks the top 50 free agents. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• R.J. Anderson also has his top 50 free agents.
• David Adler has an introduction to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the top Japanese pitcher coming over this winter.
• Thomas Harrington has a look at all the player options this winter and how likely the players are to opt-out.
• A few deals are already done. The Dodgers have signed infielder Max Muncy to a two-year, $24 million deal.
• And reliever Joe Jiménez has agreed to a three-year, $26 million extension with the Braves.
• Seven-time All-Star Nelson Cruz announced his retirement.
• Thomas Harrington evaluates all of the open managerial positions.
• Brewers manager Craig Counsell will reportedly stay with Milwaukee if the Brewers are willing to match the highest salary offer he gets this winter.
• MLB has avoided a Supreme Court showdown over their antitrust exemption when they settled a lawsuit with two contracted minor league teams.
• The Padres reportedly took out a $50 million loan this year to cover payroll and other expenses.
• Jackson County officials are disputing a document that the taxpayers would be on the hook for between $4.3 and $6.4 billion for a new stadium for the Royals.
• And finally, Jonathan Mayo has a profile of Chris and Stefan Caray, who are the identical twin sons of Chip Caray and who are continuing to hone their broadcasting skills in the Arizona Fall League.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.