It was the most dramatic end to a World Series game in half a decade, for everyone except the man who ended it.
In the moments before he walloped a drive into the right field stands that sent his Rangers teammates flying out of the dugout and the largest crowd in the short history of this ballpark into hysterics, that won Game 1 of the 119th World Series 6–5 over the Diamondbacks in 11 innings, that put the Rangers franchise three wins away from its first title, right fielder Adolis García told offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker that he would do just that.
Corey Seager had already homered with one on and one out in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game, and the bullpens had matched zeroes in the 10th and were on their way to doing the same in the 11th. Lefty Kyle Nelson got left fielder Evan Carter to fly to right for the first out of the inning, and then manager Torey Lovullo summoned righty Miguel Castro to face the Rangers’ most dangerous hitter. In García’s last outing, which happened to be Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, he went 4-for-5 with two home runs. He loves the big moments, and they don’t get much bigger than this.
