In his past five games, Adolis Garcia has six home runs and 15 RBI. That’s more than the combined totals for Tampa, Miami, Toronto, and Milwaukee this postseason (10 runs, 1 dinger). It’s more than what the Dodgers and Braves together could muster in the NLDS (13 runs, 4 homers), and tops the 101-win Orioles’ 2023 playoff production (11 runs, 4 home runs). And who knows when Garcia will stop levitating, because it’ll be hard to bring him back down to earth after his heroics in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday.
The Texas Rangers overcame a 5-3 ninth-inning deficit via a Corey Seager two-run shot before Garcia put himself — and the opening game — firmly in the annals of postseason history in the bottom of the 11th for a 6-5 win. It was the 17th walkoff in World Series history, the first since 2018, and the second in Rangers’ history. (Nelson Cruz ended Game 2 of the 2011 Fall Classic with a walkoff grand slam.)
Some will question Torey Lovullo’s decision to pitch to Garcia, and that would be fair because Garcia is wielding Excalibur like it’s a Wiffle ball bat. I know there was one away, nobody on, and it seems silly to intentionally walk the first batter following a pitching change, but come on.
The ALCS MVP has been stirring the Rangers’ drinks all October, and as soon as the count ran to 3-1, I don’t want the next pitch anywhere near the zone.
To be honest, Miguel Castro didn’t even make that egregious of a mistake; it was a sinker in the lower third of the strike zone, and, as John Smoltz pointed out on the broadcast, Garcia just happened to hit the ball exactly where it was pitched. Compared to the no doubters the 30-year-old has put into orbit recently, the opposite field walkoff was tame.
Of course it wasn’t, because it called game, but Texas fans beckoned the oppo shot over the right field wall as much as Garcia.
It’s always amazing when a slugger gets on a heater. Hitting a baseball might be the most difficult task in sports, yet when someone with Adolis Garcia’s talent is seeing everything, opposing managers, pitchers and fans loathe each at bat. You know they’re muttering, “This guy? Again?” under their breath as he’s walking into the box, with the joviality of Mario storming Bowser’s castle.
“Hey, itsa me, Adolis!”
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