Monday Morning Rangers Update

The 2011 World Series will feature the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers. Sounds like a good time.

ESPN Dallas' Jeff Caplan sets the scene for the Fall Classic while breaking down the who, what, when and where. For example, did you know: The American League participant in this World Series will be the Texas Rangers?

Anthony Andro examines the history between the Cardinals and Rangers of which there is nearly none. It's like a true World Series!

Anthony Castrovince has a piece proclaiming that this World Series looks like it will be between two evenly matched teams with each team being the hottest in each respective league coming into the playoffs. But, to quote Josh Hamilton: "We wanted to win last year. We expect to win this year."

Gil Lebreton recalls the stormy road the Rangers traveled to get back to the World Series after failing to finish the job last October.

Behind the DMN paywall, Kevin Sherrington declares the Rangers chances of winning the World Series to be better this time around compared to what the Rangers chances were to beat the Giants last season.

MLB.com's Tom Singer writes about the history of teams that make the World Series, lose, and return the following season as the Rangers are experiencing right now. Here's a neat thing:

History gives the Rangers an even better shot than the odds: AL teams simply aren't in the habit of dropping consecutive Series, none having done so since the 1963-64 Yankees lost to the Dodgers and Cardinals in succession.

Jeff Wilson describes how the Rangers spent their day after clinching their second consecutive Pennant. Hint: The team rested. Apparently battling a bunch of Tigers is exhausting.

But the Rangers are pretty scary themselves. As Gerry Fraley notes, NLCS MVP David Freese had this to say about the Cardinals' World Series opponent:

"The Rangers are scary," said Freese, Most Valuable Player in the National League Championship Series. "They're a scary team. They've been doing it all along the last few years. You look at that lineup. You look at that staff. It's going to be a battle."

And, Ken Rosenthal writes, as the new "Class of the American League," the Rangers have a chance to be scary for a long time.

Tim Kurkjian previews the World Series. He predicts the Rangers will win the 2011 Fall Classic in seven games.

Finally, Jon Machota explains how Jon Daniels didn't let the Rangers become a One-Series Wonder.