Texas Rangers' Reliever is a Unicorn in Sports History
The Texas Rangers won the organization's first ever World Series on Wednesday night when they beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game 5.
The Rangers, who got into the playoffs as a wild card team, ran through the Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros and D'Backs to win the title.
Texas had several contributors to this run, including World Series MVP Corey Seager, ALCS MVP Adolis Garcia and big-game pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, but there was also some history made by little-used relief pitcher Will Smith.
Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:
Will Smith is the first player in MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL history to appear in at least one game (regular or Postseason) with three different championship winning teams in three consecutive seasons
h/t @MLB_PR
The 34-year-old Smith pitched for the 2021 Braves in their World Series run, then joined the Houston Astros roster for the World Series in 2022 - though he did not pitch. He pitched in two games for the Rangers in this World Series, and he threw in five postseason games total.
A well-traveled veteran, he's spent 11 years in the big leagues overall with the Giants, Braves, Brewers, Royals and Rangers. He debuted for Kansas City in 2012 and actually served as a starter. He didn't transition to being a reliever until 2013 and really saw his career take off for the Brewers in 2014, when he made a league-most 78 appearances.
This year, he made 60 appearances for Texas, going 2-7 with a 4.40 ERA.
Lifetime, he's 33-41 with a 3.67 and has recorded 113 saves.
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