“The stage drives us”: Adolis García wins the MVP and leads the Rangers to the World Series
Adolis García stared at his fly ball, certain that the ball would land in the Crawford Boxes. He had felt the crunch of his bat crushing the four-seam fastball of Astros starter, right-hander Cristian Javier.
The hit was just a few feet short of a home run, and when Adolis saw that he wasn't going to go away, he quickly ran toward first base. Luckily for the Rangers, Adolis' 346-foot long single drove in rookie Evan Carter, who scored safely after stealing second base.
With the Rangers trying to pull away from the Astros en route to success in Game 7 of the ALCS, Adolis knew that missing out on reaching one more base could prove key in life-or-death games. However, he did not take long to put into action another of his most notable abilities: speed. On Javier's first pitch against Mitch Garver, a slider to the outside corner, Adolis stole second base. And then, four pitches later, he scored from second when he realized that left fielder Michael Brantley's jump wasn't enough to catch Garver's fly ball to left-center.
In the blink of an eye, Adolis scored the third run for the Rangers, who began inspired to advance in their dream of reaching the World Series for the first time since 2011. Those pair of actions, recovering the base that was not reached with the hit against the wall, was just the prelude to another fantastic offensive night for the Cuban right fielder.
Yes, after striking out four times last Sunday and ending up hitting a Grand Slam that destroyed the Astros in Game 6, the stories of improvement continued. Adolis once again stole the show at Minute Maid Park, leading the Rangers' run to the World Series. How did he make a difference?: In five plate appearances, he had four hits, including two home runs, and drove in five runs in the Rangers' 11-4 victory to eliminate the Astros.
“These types of games, when there are a lot of emotions, the fans come together for their team, that gives me energy,” said García, who was chosen as MVP after recording five home runs, 15 RBI, and a 1.293 OPS in 30 plate appearances. “It's motivation that helps me when I play. Today we saw Corey Seager hit that hit there and start it all for us. He arrived and was very happy. And, you know, Seager barely talks, so seeing him like that inspired us to go there and continue to figure out how to win this big game.”
With the new distinction of MVP, Adolis García joined four other compatriots who have won the award in the Championship Series:
1. Liván Hernández Florida Marlins, 1997: NLCS
2. Orlando Hernández New York Yankees, 1999: ALCS
3. Randy Arozarena Tampa Bay Rays, 2020: ALCS
4. Yordan Álvarez Houston Astros, 2021: ALCS
5. Adolis García Texas Rangers, 2023: ALCS
I don't know if you know that there have been hitters in postseason history who have come back from four strikeouts to then hit a grand slam during a single game. The first was Adolis in Game 6. But here was the even more surprising feat: he also became the first batter to have four hits, two home runs and drive in five runs in a Game 7 during LCS history.
The 15 RBIs in the Championship Series were also recorded in the books as the new record for a hitter in a single postseason, leaving behind another Ranger, the Dominican Nelson Cruz (13 RBI in 2011). Furthermore, with at least four games possible in the World Series, it seems quite difficult for Adolis not to break the record for RBI for a postseason, held by David Freese (21 RBI with the Cardinals in 2011).
Adolis also joined Corey Seager (2020) as the only hitter with at least seven home runs and 20 RBIs in a postseason. Seager sculpted that impressive performance into 18 games and 80 plate appearances, while Adolis needed just 54 plate appearances in 12 games. However, there are two differences here: 1) What's obvious: Adolis has reached all of those records with 26 plate appearances and six fewer games. 2) It's reasonable that Seager didn't put up the combined numbers of 7+ HR and 20+ RBI during his first 12 games in the 2020 playoff. And he did.
Instead, as I wrote last night in my Game 6 column, there was only one player in history with 7+ HR and 20+ RBI in his first 12 postseason games. It was Nomar Garciaparra playing for the Red Sox between 1998 and 1999. Speaking of streaks, we couldn't miss two that Adolis still has active: four consecutive games hitting at least one home run, and six games driving in runs.
The streak of four games with at least one home run is the fourth longest in postseason history, behind Daniel Murphy (six in 2015), Giancarlo Stanton (five in 2020) and Carlos Beltrán (five in 2004). That's what Garcia has done throughout this series. According to Baseball-Reference, since 1920, when RBIs became an official statistic, the streak of at least one RBI in six games is the longest cumulative streak in a single postseason series.
What an incredible span! And what catches my attention the most is how Adolis, who typically strikes out in 27-30% of his plate appearances, has managed to extend his adjustments to get more contact out of his swing. That does not mean that the strikeouts will disappear, but better plate discipline has been key for Adolis and the results produced have been favorable: he has had a hit in 11 of his first 12 playoff games, and in eight he has finished with one. or fewer strikeouts.
Seeing Adolis putting in an elite performance as he did during the regular season is part of the keys the Rangers needed to advance. “He's one of us, I'll start with that,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said when asked what Cuban Adolis García's push meant for the team. “We are not surprised by what he did. I've seen him do it over the years. The incredible talent of this guy, what he did.”
During the seven games, the Astros pitchers were challenging Adolis the entire time. They threw fastballs on 55% of the pitches. In the first two games the strategy worked. Adolis hit 1-for-9, but from the third game on he crushed the fastballs: he hit 6-for-12, with three home runs. With the exception of Game 6, there were four games in which the Astros failed to strike out Adolis. Something that pitchers cannot afford is to neglect the location of pitches in the upper third of the zone against Adolis. Part of his best adjustments in 2023 was working on his swing against hit, low and, above all, high pitches.
I don't think we need to remember here where it's absolutely obvious to pitch to Adolis. Breaking pitches that stray from his swing remains the most lethal for him — in fact, he went 2-for-10 with four strikeouts against the Astros' combination of curveballs and sliders in these playoffs. But it happens that sometimes those breaking balls rotate near the center of the zone and, bye-bye ball! The man has terrible power. Adolis has shown that he can hit the ball from any angle of the park as long as he hits the sweet spot on time. He has been a destroyer of command errors, as power hitters have to be. And, most importantly: the same leader who led the offensive attack of these Rangers during the regular season.
“I think so,” Adolis said in response to questions about how he approached his at-bats, and how meaningful it usually is for everyone. “I think the atmosphere and the type of game, the setting drives us. I think I assimilate all that and it helps us perform the best I can.”