After six consecutive losing seasons, the Texas Rangers are going back to the World Series for the first time since 2011 and the third time in franchise history after blasting the Houston Astros 11-4 in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night at Minute Maid Park.
Here are some takeaways:
ADOLIS GARCIA IS YOUR ALCS MVP
Adolis Garcia continued to feast on the Astros, getting four hits on Monday, two of which were solo home runs. He had five RBI to give him 15 for the series, setting a postseason record.
You can read more on Garcia's heroics here.
COREY SEAGER IS BACK
The Rangers needed Corey Seager to break out of his slump, and he did it in a big way on Monday, hitting a first-inning solo home run off of Astros' starter Cristian Javier to help jumpstart the offense en route to a 3-0 first inning lead.
Seager was hitting .192 in the series and had three hits on the night.
THE OFFENSE EXPLODES
The Rangers' offense smacked around the Astros' pitching staff all night long, racking up 11 runs on 15 hits. In addition to Garcia and Seager's big nights, Jonah Heim had two hits, and Nathaniel Lowe hit an opposite-field two-run bomb in the sixth inning to give the Rangers a 10-2 lead.
RANGERS PITCHING STAFF SHUTS THE DOOR
Max Scherzer had a short leash on Monday, as Bochy was quick to call on his bullpen after the future Hall of Famer allowed two runs on four hits and two walks in 2 2/3 innings.
In came Jordan Montgomery, who started Game 5 on Friday. Pitching on what would have been his normal bullpen day, the left-hander shut out the Astros over 2 1/3 innings, pushing his ERA to 2.16 this postseason.
The trio at the backend of the bullpen, Josh Sborz, Aroldis Chapman and Jose Leclerc pitched in what suddenly became low-leverage situations, starting with Sborz, who entered the ballgame in the sixth inning with Texas up 10-2.
In mop-up duty, the three relievers combined to allow two runs in four innings of work.