Comparing the Offenses of the Rangers and Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers will play in the world series starting this Friday. Arizona went 84-78 during the regular season and were the 3rd and final Wild Card. Despite being the 6th overall seed they swept the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers before needing seven games to get past the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS. Overall they went 9-3 on their way to the 119th Fall Classic.
The Rangers finished the regular season with the same record as the Houston Astros, 90-72 but Houston won the division title based on head-to-head records. Texas swept the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles, and also needed seven games to defeat the Astros in the ALCS. They have the same postseason record as the Diamondbacks at 9-3.
The Diamondbacks made it past the slugging Phillies despite getting outscored 30-21 and out-homered 11 to 5. They took two games by one run, and Game 7 was a 4-2 victory. The Rangers won four games on the road in Houston to advance, outscoring Houston 39-33 and smashing a whopping 15 homers in the series.
Team Level Hitting Stats
It should be noted that Globe Life Park has played somewhat hitter friendly over the last several years. The three year weighted park factor at Baseball Reference has the stadium at 104, meaning it plays about 4% more hitter friendly than a neutral park. (100 = league average) Chase Field meanwhile rates at 99, or just 1% towards pitcher friendly.
Rangers and Diamondbacks Regular Season Stats
For Arizona it was a tale of two halves, as they scored over 5 runs a game over their first 80 games but just over 4 after that. The Rangers hit 233 homers compared to 166 for Arizona. The D-backs stole 166 bases at an 86% clip, while the Rangers had just 79 steals while getting caught 19 times. The D-backs had the most sacrifice hits in MLB with 39 while the rangers ranked near the bottom of that category with just 10. These numbers help juxtapose the styles of the two teams.
Texas ranked third in runs per game, OPS, park-adjusted OPS+ and home runs during the regular season.
The postseason is all about getting hot at the right time however, and here is what the numbers look like for each team over their last 12. Texas numbers have ticked up even further, while overall the D-backs stayed about the same.
Rangers and Diamondbacks Postseason Hitting
The Diamondbacks have hit homers at a higher rate than they normally did during the regular season, knocking 18 homers in 12 games, but their overall run scoring is down slightly. This is due in part to situational hitting, especially over the final two games of the NLCS in which they went 3-for-21 with runners in scoring position, leaving seven men on base in each game. The Rangers have continued their slugging onslaught with 22 post season homers.
Interestingly the Rangers have stolen nine bases without getting caught so far in playoffs while the D-backs cranked up their running game late in the NLCS and now have 16 post season steals against just three caught. It should be noted that both Texas and Arizona were two of the toughest teams to run on in 2023. Texas allowed 91 stolen bases and a 75% success rate. Both those numbers were the 5th best in MLB. The D-backs meanwhile were the second best in the league allowing just 84 steals and a 72% success rate. Gabriel Moreno is the best thrower at catcher in MLB.
Individual Players
NLCS MVP Ketel Marte has a record 16-game postseason hitting streak to begin his career and has been the most consistent performer throughout the playoffs for Arizona, batting .358/.382/.604, .986 OPS. Alek Thomas has powered his way to the second best postseason OPS on the team (.865) thanks to four homers, but his batting average is just .212. Gabriel Moreno is hitting .279 with three homers and nine RBI and has an .852 OPS. He was moved up to third in the order during the NLCS. Corbin Carroll his hitting .295/.395/.455, .851 OPS. He has not hit an extra base hit in his last nine postseason games however.
The biggest issue for the D-backs offense has been the fact that veterans Christian Walker, Evan Longoria, and Tommy Pham has spent most of the playoffs slumping. Walker is batting just .179 with one homer. He's not getting much to hit however and has 11 walks and a .365 on-base percentage. Pham is batting .214 with a .590 OPS and walked just once while striking out 14 times. He does have two homers however, including a key homer in Game 6 to get the offense started and quiet the Philadelphia crowd. Evan Longoria is just 5-for 37, .135 with two doubles in the postseason. These veteran leaders will need to lead ON the field as well as off if the D-backs are going to score enough against the Rangers.
The Rangers offense is led by Corey Seager who hit .327 with a 1.013 OPS and 33 homers, 96 RBI in just 119 games played. Adolis Garcia led the team in homers and RBI with 39/107 while batting .245. Second Baseman Marcus Semien led MLB in Games, Plate Appearances, At Bats, Runs and Hits, while hitting .276 with 40 doubles and 22 homers. DH Mitch Garver hit .270 with 19 homers and an .870 OPS in just 296 at bats.
Seager and Garcia have led the postseason charge for the Rangers as well. The All-Star shortstop is batting .333 with a 1.127 OPS and leads the team with 12 runs scored. Garacia is coming off a monster ALCS in which he hit five homers and drove in 15 to win ALCS MVP honors. Overall he's batting .327 with seven homers 20 RBI. Rookie Evan Carter is batting .308 with a .987 OPS and has scored eight runs and Josh Jung is batting .289 with three homers and eight RBI and a .920 OPS.
