The Rangers PAID Their Way To a Championship and That's a Good Thing 

As a rangers fan, it feels so good to win the World Series, but as hard it is to make the world series, its even harder to make it again. Houston and Seattle are still there. I hope the Rangers continue to play well, and even if they don't, we still got our World Series win.

I think I cried for 2 hours after that last strike. So much pain in 2011 all washed away with one pitch.

The Rangers won because they built a 'team" and not just a bunch of individual on the same team. This team played well together and help bring out the best of each other and never let themselves get down on themselves when things did not go right.

All it took for the Rangers is a retractable roof stadium, generational wealth to a few superstars, shrewd trading and developing prospects, successful rookie drafts, solid free agent signing of bench pieces, acquisition of five additional starters in the off-season, aggressive, all-in trade deadline deals, and hiring a HOF manager. It’s that simple.

Bruce Bochey has won 5 pennants as the manager of 3 different teams, has 4 World Series rings and a regular season winning % .499 for his career. Fun fact.

Two words: BRUCE BOCHY! I'm forever upset with the Padres upper echelon losing that man

A lot of teams is spending their way to a Championship. Rangers just did it right

As a native Texan and lifelong Rangers fan, this World Series win feels amazing. I definitely didn't think the Rangers even had a chance this season. It's a little weird watching the rivalry with the Astros. Growing up, the Astros were in the NL so there wasn't much of a rivalry. I would imagine most Texans are happy when either team wins. I was happy to see the Astros win last year, mostly because Dusty Baker won a world series. MLB had hoped to develop a rivalry when they moved the Astros to the AL West. It seems to be working i guess. Despite the new to me rivalry, there is one thing that Rangers and Astros fans can agree on.......their love of Nolan Ryan.

Undoubtedly this has to be the coolest World Series win I’ve ever witnessed. Everything they went through just so they can win a championship this century before the Cowboys💀

See even as an Astros fan I don’t understand why there has to be animosity between the teams. I’m happy the rangers won. They honestly deserve not only because they played amazing but bc they built a great team. Hats off to the rangers and their fans, we’re both Texas teams so if it’s not the Astros I’m glad it was the Rangers who won. Soak it all up, it really is the best feeling in the world to win.

Congrats Rangers fans. Must be nice to have an ownership group committed to winning. - Disgruntled M's fan

A Texas based team has now been represented in the World Series 5 times over the last 7 seasons and 4 of the last 5 and 7 total times since 2010 winning 3 of them.

As a Mariners fan, it's sad that our ownership will NEVER do what it takes like the Rangers ownership did. They wanted that title and went out and did absolutely everything that they could.

For some reason, I'm glad everything worked out. The way it did. And the Rangers were the Wild card team. They got to show the entire league. How great they really were, and how hard they fought to get where they were. And that they We're never going to give up. No matter how bad it looks or how hard it got. Or how much people didn't believe in them. They believed in themselves, and they proved everyone wrong. And one the whole thing, and I'm super proud of them, and I'm proud to be a ranger's fan. This is one of the best days of my life. LETS GO RANGERS!!!!! 🤟🤟🤟☝️☝️☝️

Congrats to the Rangers and Diamondbacks. Great WS, and both teams fought hard to earn their spots. A big payroll doesn't always convert to wins, as seen by the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, (internal pain) my Tigers around 10 years ago, and many other examples. To the Dbacks, you may not be taking home a WS victory, but at least you can silence Philly fans. To the Rangers, I'm not at all surprised this was your year. As a baseball fan, I enjoyed this year's playoffs (I wanted to see the Orioles do more with their opportunity, but I guess it wasn't meant to be).

Their farm system really came out. With Jung, Carter, Tavares, etc out there. This wasn't just the big names, but their farm system as well coming out doing well especially with Jung and Evan Carter. Those two are going to get a big contract if the Rangers want to keep them.

The best off season move the Rangers made was getting Bochy. He is a magic man with a roster especially pitchers. I was really hoping Dusty was going to retire after that WS and the Astros were going to try and get Bochy. Good for the Rangers. Glad they got their Ring.

As a Mets fan it breaks my heart to know that Degrom and Sherzer have a WS ring without us 😢

i really feel it doesn't matter If a championship is bought or not, the Only thing that matters is that you Win one

54 years in the making love to see it🎉

I don’t think it’s fair to say they paid their way to the ws because before they got seager and semian, they were 28th in payroll. Also, degrom (35m), max (43.3m), and odirizi (12m) either weren’t on the postseason roster or barely pitched in the postseason.

I’d have to disagree yes they spent money but they didn’t buy their way to a WS they had a vision and spent smartly unlike most teams but also won through trades and prospects

They achieved what the Yankees, Dodgers, Padres and maybe the Angels have been trying to do for years!!!

As a Royals fan, I have the take that only bad can happen if the DBacks won this year, it would be proof you don’t have to go all in. Which would be a bad precedent for spending.

Congrats Texas, but you gotta hand it to the DBacks. That team is a hero to little guys everywhere

Mental toughness defined this team-from Garcia's turning into the Incredible Hulk amidst Houston's booing fans to Corey Seager's machine-like approach at the plate to Big Game Nate's Houdini-like escape acts in Game 5. Even Sborz transforming himself into an October Relief God, after a cringe-inducing season. Like Winston said in Ghostbusters, "We got the tools, we got the talent!" They never doubted it, and they never lost their cool.

I think most people forget that the Astros tanked several seasons to help rebuild their farm system before their rise in the late 2010's. Their was almost no spending on any free agents and therefore almost no fans at the games. You could get into an Astros game for $5. When the Rangers were in town, it was at least even Astros/Rangers fans split if not more Rangers. In those times, the Rangers dominated the Astros (nearly everybody did though). However, that rebuilding led them to a long period of success. It's not cheating to tank like that as it as much a commitment by the ownership to not pay for any talent while staying near the bottom and getting draft picks and developing the talent. Ownership held back their money until the base was strong. This story was even covered in a Sports Illustrated cover story the year before the Astros made their first WS run. I don't feel the Rangers franchise has every considered being okay with losing 110+ games per season repeatedly. Losing 100+ games in a season was enough for changes to be made and new management came in to bring in free agents that could win now. However, the Rangers have also rebuilt their farm system in those losing years with several young players and developing them. Time will tell how long the success can last for the Rangers. Bruce Bochy has proven himself to be an elite manager, but I also want to give credit to Mike Maddux who should now be considered a legendary pitching coach. He brought the Rangers to the WS in 2010 and 2011, the Dodgers in 2017, the Red Sox in 2018 and helped the Nationals go to the WS a year after he left in 2019. Now he helped bring the Rangers back to the WS in 2023 and win.

If Seager was injured less often, he might have won MVP.

Boch. You guys got the best. We miss him sooooooo much. Treat him good. He’s a master strategist.

Super happy for Semien. As a lifelong A's fan, let's not forget that he used to be the worst starting shortstop in the league. Now he's one of the best and two different teams have paid massive amounts for him. Crazy transformation.

Congratulations Rangers. Atros fan here. Enjoy!! Rangers will have a good team for the next 5-7 years minimum. Rangers have Wyatt Langford coming next. Crazy! Reminds me of our run that started in 2016.

102 losses 94 losses 90 wins, World Series championships.

Y’all wanna talk about Josh Jung, Leody Taveras, Adolis Garcia, Evan Carter, Jose LeClerc, Travis Jankowski, Jonah Heim and Nate Lowe? They all were developed or brought in on cheap deals that were key contributors on the team. Saying this team was bought is a wild take. Sure we spent big in the off-season but it’s not like the Yankees where everyone is getting paid many many millions

I didn't know who the owner of my squad the Texas Rangers was before game 7 of the ALCS. When I saw him, the spending spree made a lot of sense...Thank you Sir! The good news is that this squad will pretty much all be back next year with the notable exception of 2 Free Agents, Garver and Montgomery. Thanks boys! enjoy the Rings wherever you land and use some of those bags of money to build a nice trophy case for them!

A very happy ranger fan just followed. Badass break down of this season and the ones that lead up to this. Hoping to continue this in the next years because remember rangers won this during a rebuild.

31 million people in Texas. 14 million combined in Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Louisiana. 17 million in the 4 Mexican/Texas border states. That's over a 60 million person market for the Rangers and Astros. Both teams can afford to buy many championships to come.

I'd like to see a video on the Diamondbacks being a legit moneyball team for the first time since probably the '02 Oakland A's. They did the most with the least amount of money than any other team that made the playoffs, and had like 8 or 9 players who weren't even in the majors before August. It'll be inevitable when the rich teams come in and pick that roster apart because the Dbacks owner is too cheap to keep a good team around.

In the end, I'm happy for the Rangers, Being an Astros fan, at least they went down against the World Series champions and not some no-names.

Congrats Texas! Well deserved victory 👏

Heim, Jung, Carter, Taveras, Garcia, Lowe....that is thier entire outfield, catcher and first and third baseman making the league minimum. They didn't "buy the trophy"....they spent money for the 2 most well rounded middle infielder free agents and starting pitching. Everything else has been developed. I'd say that's a pretty damn good formula for success in baseball. They did what mattered, got some great veteran players to help a young squad of pre arbitration guys.

One thing you forgot to mention is that the rangers do have a very good farm system now. Evan Carter is an amazing young prospect, along with jung being a longtime work in progress. But with players like Wyatt Langford and even Jack Leiter and Kumamoto Rocker. It’s fair to say this team is set up very well for the future

I was a little boy when the Cowboys dominated the SB. I’ll never forget watching Dirk roll the ball into the goal for 2 to beat the Heat. But my school as a child, my tiny SCHOOL would take us to Ranger’s games every year when we had good grades or perfect attendance. I’ve hugged Pudge’s leg, and he was a hero about it. To see this club finally pull it down… it’s all this state could ask for.😊

Money does not always buy success. See: NY Mets, LA Dodgers, NY Yankees. Spending money wisely, having a great management core, and a decent team (with a bit of luck) wins championships :)

I feel like rangers did a 50/50. They acquired their right players and were patient and spent the good money. And it paid off not like how everyone says that dodgers just throw money away and still get no results that far

Not entirely true. Garcia, Carter, Lowe, Jung, Heim, Leody, Leclerc, Chapman, Garver, Monty, Dunning, Duran, Sborz we’re all drafted or traded for. The only ones they paid big money for was Semien and Seagar. Gray, Evaldi, Heaney,

right on - amazing effort from all involved for this team. You cannnot just "buy this", everything needs to work and that takes teamwork and skill, and camaraderie. Great to see this series and how it played out. Nice work iTalk Studios.

Smartest move was dumping a pile of cash at Seager's house while the Dodgers still had Trea Turner on the books. Serious quality bat.

Dude I love Corey Seager, such a good shortstop.

Great video! Sums it up perfectly. As a lifelong Rangers fan, I'm still in awe of this season. I knew it was going to be fun when ownership spent money on good players, and was overjoyed when they got rid of GM Jon Daniels. Hiring Bruce Bochy as the new manager was EPIC. But absolutely none of that would have mattered if the team they put together hadn't gelled the way they did. As far as spending money goes, that's only one part of it. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. This team was the perfect blend of expensive free agents, homegrown talent, and long-suffering talent...and the way they came together and won it all is truly special. This World Series may have gotten low TV ratings...but true baseball fans are now analyzing it, making videos about it, and realizing what a great story it really is!

Still had a lower payroll than the Astros in playoff rosters🤝

And you were trying to say they “screwed themselves” by the coach chirping Tommy fking Pham. I told you he wasn’t going to do sh*t, nobody was scared except you😂

I am not ashamed to say I came over because deGrom. I have been a Mets fan since 2020 after the 19 Nats got broken up. But the Mets were clearly not going to win with Showalter, he's just not a closer. I believe in players because in pro sports the roster of any given Franchise team changes so much year over year that "the Rangers" of 2023 aren't the same as 22 and won't be the exact same as 24. This group of players just stood out to me as having fun but also recognizing the opportunity in front of them to make it happen and they fought through all the variance to get there. baseball is a funny game, the difference in talent, skill and ability of a 90 or 100 win team over a 162 game season in a game with as much variance (IE luck) as baseball means that 100 win record doesn't honestly matter. What matters.. and the Phillies showed us this last year, just getting to the dance. A 100 win team like the Orioles has 10 more wins than the 90 win Rangers for any number of reasons many of which aren't in the control of either team's players or managers and that difference in numbers is critically not an indicator of skill or ability when it matters. The Rangers embarrassed the Rays, Orioles and Diamondbacks on the field and only really stumbled versus the in state division rival Astros because they got emotional in a critical spot. if Adolis just takes his base or Bochy replaces the iced leClerc in the ninth they win that game. But they recognized it and went out and played great, thumping the other Texas Team, embarrassing them in the last 2 games of the series to remain undefeated on the road, and fittingly won the Championship and Commissioners Trophy by doing the same thing, staying undefeated on the road.

Buying up the good players and winning is an old tradition going back probably 100 years congrats rangers

Yay the only team that wasn’t involved with pride night WON the WS

Happy for Andrew Heaney. His 5 is innings were essential. Happy he got a ring.

Yes the Rangers spent some money, BUT they are 8th in payroll. Also They have DeGrom, who did not pitch hardly at all, Scherzer for a one more year. Two all star rookies. And their two top dollar guys are theirs probably until the end of their career. One of them is WS MVP.

Its so beautifull. Ive endured a lifetimes worth of heartbreak for them to finally come through. 🎉

Josh Sborz's 5.50 era doesn't show what kinda pitcher he was when we was healthy he was great and when pitching unhealthy he got shelled and I have always been a sborz believer

Game 1 of the World Series championship was one of the greatest World Series games of all time and you blew right through it 😢

In April the Mets (more than double), Yankees, padres, Phillies dodgers, angels, blue jays and braves all spent more than the rangers but couldn’t “buy” the championship. By October the Mets, Yankees, and Padres had still outspent the Rangers. If you can buy a championship then the Mets would be there. Texas played well together and played great when it mattered most. You gotta get there to have a chance.

The Rangers had the 9th highest payroll in 2023. The top 3 payrolls, both NY teams and San Diego didn't even make the playoffs. 2 of the lowest payrolls got great value per production. At 28 and 29, Tampa Bay and Baltimore did more with less payroll. Moral of the story, regardless of how much or little money is spent, coaching, defense and pitching still matter. That's about all...

That new ballpark with a roof, landed some pitching finally!!

A 26 minute video 🔥🔥🔥

I disagree that they paid their way to World Series. Sure they spent money, but with a vision and a plan they built up their prospects, spent money wisely, had successful rookie drafts and made good trades. They had a perfect balance of spending money and a good farm which is why they won it all. Also, Bochy definitely helped

What I really like about the money spending is that Chris Young won a ring with the Royals in 2015 as a pitcher, and they had a smaller payroll. So you would think that he would possibly have that small market mindset, since he saw that it could be done. But nope. He understood that that mindset doesn't always work. He wanted to win, and he knew how to do it. So they spent money, and to ice that cake, he brought in one of the best managers in history. I'm really happy that there are still front offices that understand that it's not always about analytics. You gotta crack a few eggs to make an omelet

It’s funny how the Yankees LITERALLY do this every year but no one says anything. Also the dodgers and the astros to some extent.

I love this so much. I was not a Ranger's fan until they signed three time winning World Series manager, Bruce Bochy. At that moment I knew they could possibly win it all. And so they did, and I am very happy for them!

They were stacked but also had to overcome injuries to win a championship! Congrats to them 🎉🤠

Mets fan here,congratz to the Rangers! I saw the Cardinals vs Rangers in the WS and how gut wrenching it was, I wanted Texas to win that WS but happy that they won this time

Their farm system supplied more players than free agency in the playoffs.

I’ve got to say, as commendable as the Rangers are this year, I still feel like the Mets won that trade. The Rangers gave up their top prospect, for Scherzer, who played a decent month of August, and two pretty bad playoff appearances. That’s all he did. They’ll have Max for next season, but he’s also coming off a very shaky 2023, and is now more injury prone. Now the Mets have Luisangel Acuña, a guy who could very well be one of the better players in the league when he’s called up. As a Met fan, I’m thrilled with this deal, I feel like we robbed the Rangers, but as a baseball fan, it feels like a terrible deal on the Rangers end.

Rangers front office said "enough" and went out and spent. Rays front office says "enough" and gets rid of their big contracts. After the Franco fiasco they'll be gun shy for a while. Expect Glasnow to be traded at some point because no way they'll spend 20-25 million for him.

jacob deGrom posted 1.5 fWAR this year over 6 starts. without his contribution then this team doesn't make it to the post season. say what you will, he deserves his ring....

Rangers also drafted Wyatt Langford!!! So excited about this team's future.

To be honest, them spending feels different from someone like the Dodgers. The Dodgers already had a stacked team and started signing & trading for Superstars like Betts, Turner, Scherzer, & Freeman. The Rangers weren’t even good when they spent. Seager & Degrom were the only true superstars & DeGrom wasn’t even apart of this years run. Their farm system came along well too, with guys like Heim & Jung rising to all-star level. Gotta give a ton of credit to their front office for getting those guys to come there & building a championship roster sooner than expected.

Your editing & narration are fantastic, but I don't know about the claim that they bought a title. The Rangers had 13 position players record at least 0.1 fWAR this season, who collectively combined for 34.0 fWAR. Only five of the 13 were FA signings (Seager, Semien, Travis Jankowski, Robbie Grossman & Sam Huff). Those five combined for 13.8 fWAR, or 40.6% of that 34.0 fWAR total. The remaining 59.4% came from guys drafted/signed as amateurs by the Rangers (Jung, Carter, Taveras) or acquired by them from teams who undervalued them (Garcia, Heim, Garver, Lowe, & Duran; of those, only Garver was an established big-leaguer). Looking at PAs rather than fWAR, the 13 players with at least 0.1 fWAR combined for 5825 PAs, of which the five FAs only accounted for 35.0% (2041). Nearly two-thirds of those PAs came from Rangers draftees, or undervalued guys they picked up from other teams through trades. The rotation/bullpen math is a bit murkier because guys go back and forth between both, but-not counting Perez, since he was both a Rangers amateur international signing and an FA pickup-11 Rangers threw at least 40 innings this season, combining for 1014.0 IP. Rangers draftees & trade pickups account for about half those innings, with 510.1 IP coming from Dunning, Montgomery, Burke, Leclerc, Bradford, Sborz & Scherzer. The FAs-Gray, Heaney, Eovaldi & Will Smith-account for 506.0 IP. In the playoffs, accounting for Gray's demotion to the 'pen and Smith's demotion to LOOGY, the contributions largely came from Rangers draftees & trade pickups: they ended up with nine pitchers with either three starts or five appearances. These nine combined for 136.2 IP, and only Eovaldi & Heaney were FAs; they contributed 47.2 IP, or 34.9% of those 136.2 IP. The other seven-Montgomery, Leclerc, Sborz, Scherzer, Chapman, Bradford & Dunning-were all either drafted by the Rangers or acquired by trade, and contributed the remaining 65.1% of those innings.

An amazing season. Never give up!

As a Phillies fan this gives us hope.. 😢

The rangers did a combo of spending in free agency and player development. It's the way to do it. Watch the Baltimore spend on pitching during the off season.

They had two very high priced singings last year and one this year. This wasn't like the Yankees, which is all they do. This was a well balanced team of prospects, developing players trades and singings.

Every major sports team pays their way to whatever kind of season they end up having......No player works for free.

Also, i really enjoyed the longer video, iTalk! Thank you

its not just the money they spent, but who they spent it on, and also the staff that they brought in, everyone with one thing in mind.

Bochy made a HUGE decision (probably the decision that won us the WS) by flubbing the last game against the Mariners. Rangers are better on the road and not good after rests over a day, and same goes for the Astros; by keeping the Rangers playing ball against the Rays and the O's, and by making Houston take a long rest and play as the Home Team, Bochy solidified the Rangers Postseason, and eventually Our first Title. GOBBLESS THA BOCH.

ITalk always delivers. Love the content!

Its almost like this guy doesn't understand that the Rangers planned this out. We knew we had top prospects getting ready. We not only wanted stars to build around, but also veterans to come in to bolster the lineup around the young talent coming up. Now we have Jung, Evan Carter, Wyatt Langford (who looks INCREDIBLE), Corey Seager, Jonah Heim, Ezequiel Duran, Marcus Semien, Adolis Garcia, Nathaniel Lowe, Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker, and so many more coming up. And we have more money to spend too, with our eyes locked on Shohei. The Rangers planned this out. We already won one now. Get ready, because we're here to stay now.

Great video and your summary at the end about spending money was excellent!

I predicted at the all star break in July the rangers would win the World Series. Boy was I right. I just liked how they rebuilt as a team. Im a tigers fan and I'm regretting the fact we got javy beaz instead of seager. Congrats rangers!

I really believe that the Rangers are MLB’s next dynasty. They are only going to get BETTER in the offseason. That would be scary as hell. Imagine a Rangers team with a lockdown bullpen?!?!?!?! Thats a 110 win team right there.

Awesome video, very good summary of the last 3 seasons, with a fairytale ending!!!

The headline about paying your way to a championship, how’d workout for the Angels? I always thought they should have dumped Ohtani, taking their chances at beefing up for next year.

A lot of the money they spent on the team to win the World Series was on the bench for much of the year. Also, the whole point of spending money on players is for them to help you win a championship.. also, much of their roster came from the farm or became stars on the rangers roster Jung, Carter, LeClerc, Perez, Garcia, Gray, Heim, Lowe and more

DeGrom starting 6 games that the Rangers won each one. Six wins that without they would have not been in the playoffs. So did DeGrom help? That would be a hugh YES. Yes there was an error in the inning however this did not have any bearing on the runs scored and in fact ALL 4 runs scored were EARNED RUNS. Yes they spent a lot of money but those players made a difference this season. Also some of those players that were "traded" for were either in the Minors or not stars on their team and Texas developed those players. Also Yung and Carter were drafted by the Rangers and they play massive rolls all during the post season. You are correct that you can build a team many ways and the Rangers used every tool available, Free Agents, Trades and the Farm System to build this WS Champion team.

From a Braves fan, a huge congratulations to the Texas Rangers!!! The title of this video is so disrespectful, it's ridiculous.

The painful, seemingly cursed past of the Texas Rangers was finally set free. You couldn’t put a price on that for the fans. I understand if it’s the Red Sox or Yankees “buying” a championship, but the Rangers were due. 2010-2016 set the price, and the wallet was opened to accommodate.

Still feels like a dream 😊

As pissed as I am as a DBacks supporter, I'm glad it was to another smaller market team and one that hasn't won a series before.

Nathan Eovaldi didn’t have a good start for months but one thing that I know is that regular season Eovaldi and playoff Eovaldi is a different game. Nathan Eovaldi became the big dog. He’s a monster

Well done Sir! Well done! Great production and written well!

Wow long video. I'm impressed and excited to watch