Why the Texas Rangers Will Win the 2007 World Series

The 2006 playoffs have not even concluded yet but I'm already going to tell you who is going to win the World Series in 2007. Will the Yankees reload with a new manager and players and win in 2007? Will the Mets find enough starting pitching to make them even better next year? Will the Twins repeat their incredible season or will the White Sox be back next season? Well, all of those teams might be in the playoffs next year but the team that is going to win the World Series will be the Texas Rangers.

I know what you're thinking, "Why would you think the Texas Rangers are going to win?" They had a pretty disappointing season this year, even after acquiring Carlos Lee halfway through the season. So why do I think the Texas Rangers are going to win? Is it because I think Hank Blalock is going to return to hitting .300 like in 2003? Is it because they will re-sign Carlos Lee to add to their potent offense? Is it because I think they will finally acquire some good pitching? Nope. The reason the Texas Rangers are going to win the World Series is because they fired Buck Showalter.

Let me explain. It's not that I think Buck Showalter is an awful coach. Showalter has an 882 - 833 record, which isn't awesome, but I think it's also not bad considering he has taken over some bad baseball teams. Long before coaching for the Texas Rangers, Buck Showalter coached for the New York Yankees. The New York Yankees had fallen on hard times in the late 80s - early 90s. In his first season Buck Showalter improved the team slightly as their record improved 76 - 86. In 1993 the Yankees record was 88 - 74, their most wins since 1987, but they fell short of the first place Toronto Blue Jays. In 1993 Buck Showalter won the American League Manager of the Year when the New York Yankees finished 17 games over .500 and were in first in the division but there was no postseason due to the strike. Finally in 1995 Buck Showalter led the New York Yankees to the playoffs for the first time since 1981. Making the playoffs for the first time in 14 years wasn't enough for George Steinbrenner though; Buck Showalter was fired in favor of Joe Torre.

In 1996 Buck Showalter was hired to coach the Arizona Diamondbacks when the new franchise started in 1998. Showalter's first season in Arizona was a 65 - 97 record but that was expected of an expansion team that really had no good players yet. Determined to turn the Arizona Diamondbacks into contenders Buck Showalter went out and got Randy Johnson and Steve Finley during the off season. In just their second season under Buck Showalter the Arizona Diamondbacks went an amazing 100 - 62. A team that was just two years old won 100 games and had the second best record in the National League. Unfortunately the Arizona Diamondbacks were beat in the first round of the playoffs to the Wild Card team, the New York Mets. In 2000 the Arizona Diamondbacks finished 85 - 77 which was only good enough for third in the division. So for the second time Buck Showalter was fired despite having a winning record.

Buck Showalter was hired to coach the Texas Rangers after they went 72 - 90 and finished 31 games out of first place in 2002. In Buck Showalter's first season with the Rangers they repeated their abysmal performance by going 71 - 91. However in 2004 Buck Showalter did another incredible job. The Texas Rangers were a 71 - 91 team and then during the off season traded the best all around player in the league, Alex Rodriguez. Buck Showalter somehow led the Texas Rangers to an 89 - 73 record the following year. How many teams improve by 18 games after trading away the best player in baseball? Not very many, that's why Buck Showalter won the AL Manager of the Year again. Buck Showalter was now leading a team full of young talent like Mark Teixeira, Michael Young and Hank Blalock but the past two seasons they failed to reach .500 finishing 79 - 83 and 80 - 82 so the Rangers fired him. However, Buck Showalter's record at Texas was only 10 games under .500 despite taking over a last place team.

So Buck Showalter had winning records taking over a disappointing Yankees franchise and an expansion Arizona Diamondbacks franchise, then did a pretty good job with the Texas Rangers too. Showalter won the Manager of the year twice, first in 1994 and again in 2004. So why is it a good thing the Texas Rangers fired him? Why do I think they are going to win the World Series now that he is gone? It's simple really. So far every team that Buck Showalter has coached for has won the World Series…after he was gone, immediately after he was gone.

In Showalter's last season with the Yankees he led Wade Boggs, Don Mattingly, Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neil, Jim Leyritz, Andy Pettitte, David Cone, Mariano Rivera, and John Wetteland to a 79 - 65 record. In 1996 Joe Torre took over the New York Yankees. The only real changes to the lineup were the addition of Derek Jeter into the starting lineup and Tino Martinez taking over for the retired Don Mattingly. So Torre took over a team that was mainly Showalter's and led them to a World Championship over the Atlanta Braves.

In 2000 Buck Showalter led an Arizona Diamondback team consisting of Damian Miller, Jay Bell, Matt Williams, Tony Womack, Luis Gonzalez, Steve Finley, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. They finished 85 - 77 and failed to make the playoffs. Buck Showalter was fired, Bob Brenly took over Showalter's team and the very next season won the World Series over the New York Yankees. Once again it was mainly Buck Showalter's team that Bob Brenly won with; the only changes to the lineup were the additions of Mark Grace and Reggie Sanders.

So there you have it. Everywhere that Buck Showalter goes he gets fired, someone takes over his team, changes maybe two starters on the team, and then wins the World Series. So watch out, don't be surprised when the Texas Rangers add a couple of players this year, maybe a Torii Hunter here or a Barry Zito there, and then in 2007 they are crowned the World Series Champions.