The Texas Rangers are World Series champions for the first time. And Corey Seager is a World Series MVP for a second time.
Seager was named MVP of the 2023 Fall Classic after Texas' 5-0 Game 5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday. The Rangers shortstop received the award after coming up large for his club once again in the championship-securing victory.
In the seventh inning of a scoreless deadlock at Chase Field in Phoenix, Seager broke up Zac Gallen's no-hit bid with a leadoff single.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
He then scored what proved to be the deciding run on a single from Mitch Garver.
Seager tallied six hits, three homers, six RBIs and three walks over the five games against Arizona. His first hit of the World Series, just like his Game 5 single off Gallen, was of the clutch variety as well.
With Texas trailing by two in the bottom of the ninth in Game 1, Seager crushed a two-run homer off closer Paul Sewald. It marked the first runs Sewald allowed in the 2023 postseason.
Texas went on to win in the 11th inning on a walk-off homer from Adolis GarcĂa.
Then in Game 3, Seager padded the Rangers' early lead with a two-run homer in the third inning of an eventual 3-1 Texas victory.
Seager, who also won the 2020 World Series MVP award as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, becomes just the fourth player ever to win the Fall Classic honor multiple times. The other three players with multiple World Series MVPs are all Hall of Famers: Sandy Koufax (1963, 1965), Bob Gibson (1964, 1967) and Reggie Jackson (1973, 1977). Both Seager and Jackson won the award with different clubs.
Seager left Los Angeles for Texas ahead of the 2022 season, signing a monster 10-year, $325 million deal with the Rangers. He was an All-Star in each of his first two seasons with Texas, hitting .327/.390/.623 with 33 homers and 96 RBIs in 2023.
The 29-year-old continued to produce in the postseason, racking up 21 hits, six homers, 12 RBIs and 15 walks over 18 games to help the Rangers win the franchise's first World Series title.
