The wait is over. The Texas Rangers are your World Series champions.
They captured the first title in franchise history with a 5-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 5 on Wednesday night. Texas also ends its postseason run a record 11-0 on the road.
Arizona looked like the team to beat through the first five innings, stranding runners on base in each -- but the Rangers were the first to break through, notching their first hits of the game in the seventh inning and subsequently scoring the first run.
We have all the action from the Fall Classic-clinching contest, from in-game live updates and analysis to takeaways and more following the final out.
Key links: Full playoffs schedule and results
Takeaways
Rangers 5, Diamondbacks 0
Texas: The Rangers spent most of October praising the big-game prowess of Nathan Eovaldi. And on the first night of November, when Zac Gallen dominated the Rangers' menacing lineup through the first six innings, Eovaldi came up as big as ever, continually weaving out of trouble to give his offense a chance to break through late. And it did. The Rangers -- a team that lost 102 games in 2021, then spent big in free agency and lured manager Bruce Bochy out of retirement -- are World Series champions for the first time in the 62-year history of their franchise. They got there by going 11-0 on the road in this postseason. They got there by continually overcoming adversity. And they got there by embodying the grittiness that Eovaldi so often displays. -- Alden Gonzalez
Arizona: The D-backs fought hard but in the end got beat by a better team. Game 5 will be remembered for Zac Gallen's six no-hit innings but also the D-Backs' inability to garner just one base knock in a big situation. So many chances but with nothing on the scoreboard to show for it, as they stranded 11 runners. It has to be such a frustrating way to end your season. But what a season it was. Discarded as a near afterthought in the mighty National League West, the D-backs survived three rounds of the postseason to get the World Series for the first time since 2001. They did it with three starting pitchers, including a rookie, as well as a young roster that ran its way deep into the postseason. With 23 year-olds like Corbin Carroll and Gabriel Moreno around, this doesn't have to be a one-and-done situation. Most of the roster is under team control next year with only key veterans Tommy Pham and Evan Longoria due to hit free agency. The ending was bad -- Arizona lost three in a row at home -- but the entirety of the season wasn't. -- Jesse Rogers
One big number: 51. That's how many seasons the Texas Rangers played in Arlington without winning a World Series. No American League fan base has endured a longer wait. The Baltimore Orioles didn't win their first title until 1966, a 64-year wait, but the majority of that came while the franchise was the St. Louis Browns. The Rangers franchise also went title-less during its 11-season run as the new version of the Washington Senators. With the wait in Arlington over, the focus now shifts to the Seattle Mariners, who have never won a title during their 47 years of existence. -- Bradford Doolittle