Rangers Romp to World Series Behind Adolis García

The FanGraphs Newsletter, October 24, 2023 [READ IN BROWSER]( October 24, 2023 Baseball games don’t have a single protagonist. Baseball series don’t have a single protagonist either. The vagaries of a nine-man lineup, four-man rotation, and eight-man bullpen mean that the most important moments of a series feature semi-random matchups. Bryce Harper doesn’t get to bring the ball up, call for an isolation, and try to hit a game-tying home run. You can’t game plan a high-leverage at-bat for your star. It’s just probability; the big moments can’t possibly find the same guy every time, which is what makes baseball such a team sport. Okay, now that we’ve said that: This game was Adolis García’s game, and this series was his series. He’s been at the center of everything ever since the start of the ALCS, but particularly for the past three games. First, Bryan Abreu hit him with a pitch that [emptied the benches]( in Game 5 and eventually led to a memorable Astros comeback from García’s own three-run homer. He came back on Sunday determined to extract vengeance, and eventually succeeded. He took 16 swings at 22 pitches, first racking up four strikeouts but then hitting a majestic, game-breaking grand slam. On Monday, he was right in the middle of things again. [READ MORE]( [Snake It 'Til You Make It: Kelly's Heroics Force NLCS Game 7]( “We're a very resilient group. You can say when our backs are against the wall, it brings the best out of us." | by Michael Baumann [With Another Colossal Postseason Homer, the Legend of Kyle Schwarber Grows]( The slugger has become a regular October fixture, and put a dent in some leaderboards as well as baseballs. | by Jay Jaffe [Yordan Alvarez, Un-Gameplanable]( The Rangers held Alvarez down in ALCS Game 1. Since then, he's done nothing but hit. Game 7 could hinge on whether Texas can figure him out one more time. | by Ben Clemens [Spinning To Win, Chad Dallas Is Looking Toward Toronto]( The Blue Jays pitching prospect is opening eyes with a breaker-heavy mix. | by David Laurila 🎧 [Effectively Wild Episode 2075: Right-Hands Man]( [DOWNLOAD THE FANGRAPHS APP]( [FanGraphs & Effectively Wild Merch Is Now Available at BreakingT!]( [ORDER HERE]( [Giants to announce Bob Melvin as manager]( by Andrew Baggarly, The Athletic [After 141 seasons, a first for the Phillies]( by Brent Maguire, MLB [How this October delivered two Game 7s]( by Jeff Passan, ESPN [Top High School Prospects From The Summer, Fall Circuits (Part 1)]( by Carlos Collazo, Baseball America ($) [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2023 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 1200 N Hartford St. Apt 312Arlington, Va 22201 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](