The Texas Rangers win the 2023 World Series
The Texas Rangers finally did it. Mackenzie Salmon explains how the team’s playoff performance led to the win.
In Major League Baseball history, only four managers have won a multi-team World Series:
- Bucky Harris – 1924 Washington Senators, 1947 New York Yankees
- Bill McKechnie – 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1940 Cincinnati Reds
- Sparky Anderson – 1975 and 1976 Cincinnati Reds, 1984 Detroit Tigers
- Tony La Russa – 1989 Oakland Athletics, 2006 and 2011 St. Louis Cardinals
Make it five!
Not only has Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy joined this exclusive club that includes four Hall of Famers, he also has the most World Series titles of anyone, having won three with the San Francisco Giants (2010, 2012 , 2014) and this most recently with Texas.
Many have had the opportunity to join this list, such as Terry Francona, who won two World Series with the Boston Red Sox and had a chance to win another with Cleveland in 2016 before falling to the Chicago Cubs in seven games. Or Al Dark, who won a World Series with the Oakland Athletics in 1974 and led the San Francisco Giants to the World Series in 1962, where he ultimately lost to the New York Yankees in seven games.
Yet Bochy stands above them all.
How many World Series has Bruce Bochy won?
Of course, we just saw Bochy win a championship in his first season with Texas, but Bochy was an integral part of the Giants dynasty in the early 2010s. Bochy’s Bay Area boys won three World Series over the course of five years, most recently in 2014 against the Kansas City Royals, who won the World Series the following year. Two years earlier, his Giants defeated the Detroit Tigers.
Two years earlier, the Giants defeated the Texas Rangers 4-1 in the series.
That’s right. Bochy has now won a World Series with the Texas Rangers and beat them in a World Series.
Has this been done before?
In short, no. This is the first time a manager has defeated a team in the World Series and then led that team to the title. None of the managers on this list have accomplished the feat that Bochy accomplished.
However, there is someone who has achieved something similar.
Casey Stengel won seven World Series as manager of the New York Yankees between 1949 and 1958. During that time, he defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants and Milwaukee Braves.
Coincidentally, Stengel won two Fall Classics as a player, in 1921 and 1922, as an outfielder for the New York Giants. Both played against the New York Yankees. So not only has Stengel been on both sides of a title with the Yankees (beaten them as a Giants player; won as a Yankees manager), but he has also been on both sides of a title with the Giants (beaten them as a Yankees manager; won). as a Giants player).
Where does Bruce Bochy rank among MLB managers of all time?
Bochy is a staple in Cooperstown at this point in his career. Here are his all-time rankings in several key management categories:
- Games: 4,032 (7th all-time)
- Wins: 2,093 (10th)
- Playoff wins: 56 (4th)
- Pennant: 5 (T-9.)
- World Series title: 4 (T-4.)
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