World Series: Ex-Mets Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom and Travis Jankowski can call themselves champions with Texas Rangers
Rangers starting pitcher Max Scherzer celebrates after winning Game 5 of the World Series against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday in Phoenix. Credit: AP/Brynn Anderson
PHOENIX — Max Scherzer, standing almost ankle-deep in a splashing pool of champagne-like beer, thrust the Commissioner’s Trophy high above his head, letting out a loud whoop as his fellow Rangers cheered in the postgame clubhouse.
Scherzer had an idea he might be in this same spot when he showed up in Port St. Lucie with the Mets seven months earlier. Not wearing this uniform, of course. Or celebrating the first-ever World Series title for the Rangers, who closed out the Diamondbacks in five games with Wednesday’s 5-0 victory at Chase Field.
“I went into spring training thinking I was going to be a World Series champ,” Scherzer said afterward. “Baseball’s wild — I just never knew it was going to be here. I’m just glad I have this moment again.”
The Mets helped make it happen, of course, asking Scherzer to drop his no-trade clause at the deadline so he could be shipped to the Rangers, who desperately needed rotation help at midseason. Not only that, owner Steve Cohen agreed to pick up roughly $35 million of the remaining $58 million Scherzer is owed through next season.
Scherzer thought he’d seen everything in his 16-year career after three Cy Young Awards and winning a championship with the underdog Nationals in 2019. But jumping on board the wild-card Rangers, who went 11-0 on the road this postseason, was a crazy trip Scherzer never could have imagined.
“Then you get another curveball,” Scherzer said.
Only by the inexplicable calculus of the 2023 Rangers could Travis Jankowski wind up doing more to secure the franchise’s first World Series title than Scherzer and Jacob deGrom, his two former teammates in Flushing.
Count the former Stony Brook star among the October heroes that finally got the job done for the Rangers, whose third trip to the Fall Classic was the charm. Jankowski replaced Adolis Garcia — who left Game 3 with an oblique strain — and supplied two hits, two RBIs and two runs in Tuesday’s 11-7 rout in Game 4. For Wednesday’s clincher, Jankowski went 0-for-3 with a walk, then got to jump in the celebratory heap afterward. After nine years bouncing around the majors, for six teams — and being DFA’ed by the Mets last season — Jankowski couldn’t have picked a better landing spot in Texas.
“Amazing,” Jankowski said Wednesday night, dodging the spray from nearby bottles. “Worth all the pain, worth all the sleepless nights. It’s worth everything, you know? You just have to keep your eyes on the prize. When negative news comes, you take it in stride and you just keep going.”
Jankowski’s contributions were emblematic of the Rangers’ resiliency all season long, and even during Wednesday night’s Game 5, when D-Backs ace Zac Gallen carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. But Corey Seager, the World Series MVP, led off with a cue-ball single through the left side of the shift, and Mitch Garver later delivered an RBI single to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.
Gallen retired 14 straight to start the game, but the Diamondbacks couldn’t break through against Nathan Eovaldi, who threw six scoreless innings. The Rangers tacked on some insurance in the ninth when Jonah Heim’s single scored two runs, the second coming when centerfielder Alek Thomas let the grounder skip past him for an error. Marcus Semien later followed with a two-run homer to start some of the 48,511 fans streaming for the exits.
Texas lost 94 games a year ago, rebuilt their rotation during the winter, barely hung on to a wild-card berth after losing the AL West title to the Astros on the final day of the regular season and then went 11-0 on the road in these playoffs.
“Just the gratification you get knowing that this wasn’t given to you — you had to earn it,” Jankowski said. “For me personally, that’s kind of the story of my life. And this team had to earn it. There were no slouches in the playoffs. And we’re a resilient group.”
The original blueprint for the AL champs called for deGrom to be the $185 million ace of their new rotation and his contribution was a whopping total of six starts before season-ending Tommy John surgery. Oddly enough, the Rangers acquiring Scherzer from the Mets at the deadline was supposed to help replace deGrom, but he missed a month with a shoulder-muscle strain and then returned to pitch 9 2⁄3 innings divided over three October starts.
After Wednesday night’s clincher, deGrom took part in the on-field festivities, jumping on the pile alongside the former Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman. There was some regret, obviously, that the two-time Cy Young winter wasn’t healthy to chip in for this October run. But for all he accomplished with the Mets, often looking like the most dominant pitcher on the planet, only now is deGrom able to say he’s a world champion.
“It’s crazy,” deGrom said. “To happen right away, that’s what the goal was. This team set out in spring training and said the goal was to go do this, and to see it actually happen, it’s awesome.”
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
