ARLINGTON, Texas — Nathaniel Lowe stood in front of his locker deep inside Globe Life Field, wearing a big smile and the absolutely perfect T-shirt to celebrate his team’s dramatic, almost unbelievable comeback win in Game 1 of the World Series — a Guns N’ Roses shirt from the album Appetite For Destruction.
“I kinda had a feeling it was gonna get a little wild this evening,” the first baseman told Sporting News with a grin. “I picked this one out as I was grabbing a shirt today.”
The playlist from that iconic 1987 release features songs like ‘Welcome To The Jungle,’ which is what the atmosphere inside the ballpark — and the clubhouse — felt like in the immediate aftermath of the Rangers’ walk-off victory, a 6-5 triumph.
And how about the song ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ for 21-year-old budding star Evan Carter, who doubled in his first two World Series at-bats on Friday.
Or ‘It’s So Easy’ for Corey Seager, who has made a career out of making it look way too easy to hit clutch home runs in October, including the game-tying two-run homer off Paul Sewald with one out in the ninth inning.
And then there’s ‘You’re Crazy’ in honor of Adolis Garcia at the plate right now. The slugger has hit home runs in five consecutive playoff games, including the game-winner on Friday night, an 11th-inning opposite-field shot off Miguel Castro. Oh, and he did that after he was hit in the wrist in his previous at-bat.
Crazy, indeed.
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“It’s tough to get hit like that, but we’ve seen it before,” Rangers leadoff man Marcus Semien said. “The league wants to try and attack him up and in, but he still covers the outside half, like he did on the home run. It’s just awesome to see.”
Garcia tied the MLB record for most playoff RBIs in one year in the first inning, with his RBI single that chased home Carter. That was his 21st of this magical run for the Rangers, tying the mark set by David Freese in 2011, for the Cardinals. As Texas baseball fans know, of course, Freese did a lot of that damage in clutch moments against the Rangers. So maybe it’s fitting that Garcia started his career with those Cardinals before Texas purchased him when the Cardinals needed to clear space on their 40-man roster in 2019.
The home run in the 11th broke the tie — in the game and for the RBI record.
“Special players step out in moments like this, and he's done it all season for us,” Seager said about Garcia. “It’s been extremely fun to watch and extremely fun to be a part of.“
Garcia’s journey really is amazing. Remember, a big reason Garcia was deemed expendable by the Cardinals was what he did in Triple-A during the 2019 season. He hit 32 homers — nobody ever has doubted his power — but he struck out 159 times in 132 games and walked just 22 times. Folks, players with numbers like that in the minors don’t generally adjust well to big-league pitching.
Garcia isn’t most people.
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I asked Will Venable, the bench coach who was hired as Bruce Bochy’s associate manager last November, what he’d learned about Garcia in his time with the club.
“He’s certainly a guy who believes in himself,” Venable said during Thursday’s media day. “As a new person in this organization this year, the word I heard on him was that he was going to have his best moments in the biggest spots, and that’s certainly been the case.
“He’s an unbelievable athlete and he’s super intelligent, and you combine all those things, next thing you know, you’ve got a superstar.”
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Yep, it’s probably safe to call Garcia a superstar. He hit 39 home runs during the regular season, and made the AL All-Star team for the second time in three years. At the very least, he is now a bona-fide October superstar.
And is there a better time to be a superstar? No, there is not.
“He’s on some kind of run right now, man,” Carter said. “It’s crazy. He’s on another level.”
Garcia has a .357 average in October, with eight home runs and those 22 RBIs. He’s also scored 11 runs and stolen two bases.
And now his Rangers have a 1-0 lead in the World Series. Three more wins and Garcia will help take them down to, you guessed it, Paradise City.
