Texas Rangers win club’s first World Series championship

No Texas Rangers fan will ever forget where they were on the night of November 1, 2023 – the night that their team finally won a World Series.

The Rangers moved to Arlington from Washington D.C. in 1972, and their fans have been waiting for a championship ever since. Some thought the team might be cursed after losing consecutive World Series in 2010 and 2011 – especially while watching the rival Houston Astros start a dynasty in the interim. But the Rangers’ time came at last, powered by an unstoppable lineup, solid defense, and just enough pitching.

John Moore, co-host of the Rangers Today podcast, spoke to the Texas Standard about the long-awaited win. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:

Texas Standard: What did it feel like last night when the Rangers recorded that last out? 

John Moore: I was pretty emotional. For some of us, someone like me – you know, I went to my first Texas Rangers game in 1974 at the age of six with my dad, my grandfather, who are both deceased. And they got me involved. I’ve been going to games for years.

It’s been pretty lucky, I’ve been in the media for the last five years, which I get to cover the team I grew up loving. But I got to be honest, I didn’t didn’t travel on this trip. My partner, Jeff, went to Phoenix. I stayed home, had the entire family in the living room. To say there were a few tears is an understatement. It was pretty emotional.

Were you a member of the Dr Pepper Jr. Texas Rangers back in the day, by chance?

I did. I had the little batting glove that was the first batting glove I ever had and all of that. I used to have bats from bat night, all of that.

The old Arlington Stadium was like a cathedral to me. I look back on it now, after to both of these the newer stadiums they’ve had, and that one to me looked like a cathedral and it was it was really kind of junky. But for a seven, eight, nine, ten-year-old, it was the greatest place in the world.

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No doubt. Well, there are some teams that win championships after years and years of incremental growth. The Rangers, this seems to have come fairly out of the blue for them. Is that a fair assessment?

Not necessarily. I mean, sort of just because they lost 101 games two years ago and they lost 94 last year, but this started basically in 2017. After 2016, when they really thought that they were a team that were still in the midst of that 2010-11 – they had gone about six years there where they had competed for playoffs every year – and then they kind of saw the writing on the wall and it was time to start a rebuild.

So they started trading – Yu Darvish, things like that. In 2017, kind of started to build back up. 2020 kind of kicked everything out. But it’s been obvious the last couple of years that the farm system has incredibly grown.

They’ve got one of the top five farm systems in baseball and for people that, you know, organizations that go on a run where they’re a dynasty or whatever, you’ve got to have your farm system first and then have really good teams. Then they have to go out and spend some money.

And the Rangers did that.

They did that. They went and did it. But you can’t just spend money. You got to have depth in the minor league system to follow that up for two things.

One, you got to have depth if there’s injuries. Two, at the trade deadline, if you have attractive prospects, you’re able to go out and get something you need. And that’s what they did this year by getting, you know, Jordan Montgomery, no doubt, and stuff like that.

Well, what’s it been like the past 12 hours or so, sharing this with family and friends who have waited their whole lives?

Well, I’ve gotten the first good night’s sleep I’ve had in probably about three weeks. So it’s been great.

Had former players reach out and text me – they knew that I was a big fan. Jeff Frye texted me last night, congratulated me. He played for the Rangers and stuff like that. It’s been a lot of fun, a lot of congratulations. A lot of “I know how you feel” and “this is exciting for you.” Things like that.

It’s been a pretty emotional 24 hours and a lot of fun. And so we’re getting ready tomorrow for the parade. I’m going to be heading down there. We get to meet with the players before they go on their little parade run. I can’t wait to talk to them since I didn’t get to go to Phoenix.

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