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Get ready for more Old West-themed promos than you can shake a six-shooter at, because it’s going to be the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. the Texas Rangers in the 2023 World Series. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to the Windup!

D-backs stun Phillies

The Athletic has live coverage of Rangers vs. Diamondbacks in Game 1 of the World Series

“Oh, nobody predicted this“

The Arizona Diamondbacks are going to the World Series, after defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 in Game 7.

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I don’t need to post a link to our NLCS predictions story to tell you that nobody expected the Diamondbacks to go to the World Series. Heck, not many expected them to even get to the NLCS, much less a Game 7. Just look at this NL playoff field in order of regular-season record:

Atlanta Braves (104-58)

Los Angeles Dodgers (100-62)

Milwaukee Brewers (92-70)

Philadelphia Phillies (90-72)

Miami Marlins (84-78)

Arizona Diamondbacks (84-78) — SNAKES ALIVE

When the Phillies went up 2-0 at home, a series win felt like a fait accompli. Even after Arizona clawed back for two wins in Phoenix, Game 5 put the Phillies one game away from advancing, with the series going back to Citizens Bank Park, where the Phillies had looked so omnipotent all October.

How fated did it seem? One prominent baseball analyst, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, bet his career on it.

And yet …

After smothering the Phillies offense in Game 7, the Diamondbacks — behind yet another short-but-effective outing from rookie Brandon Pfaadt — did it again in Game 7, using six pitchers to baffle and beleaguer the home team.

Meanwhile, Corbin Carroll, who had gone 3-for-23 in the first six games of the series, went 3-for-4 in Game 7, scoring two of Arizona’s runs, driving in the other two, stealing two bases and generally making the deciding game his personal playground.

The Phillies, for all their October magic, came up short. And now the Diamondbacks are going to try to win their first World Series since 2001. To do so, they’ll have to knock off the team that hasn’t ever won one, but took a similar underdog’s path to the World Series, beating the Rays, Orioles and Astros.

Which team will out-underdog the other? Who knows, but it should be incredibly fun to watch. Here’s our staff preview. Game 1 is at 8:03 p.m. ET Friday (Fox).

Ken’s Notebook: Thank me later, D-backs

From my latest column:

I’m not going to take credit for the Arizona Diamondbacks going to the World Series. But I sort of should.

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At least twice in recent years, I wrote favorably about the Diamondbacks in the first half of the season, only to see them sputter. And so began a running gag with general manager Mike Hazen, who has mock-pleaded with me not to write about his team ever since.

On June 1, when the Diamondbacks were 33-23, one-half game behind the Dodgers in the NL West, I sent Hazen a text: “Warning: It is getting to the point where it would be professionally irresponsible to ignore your club.”

Hazen, sensing I was plotting an in-depth breakdown of his franchise’s turnaround, replied, “Please don’t. The Reds are the hot team.”

My analysis in June 2019, when I praised the Diamondbacks for refusing to tank, actually was not a kiss of death. The team not only finished 85-77 but also used their top draft pick on outfielder Corbin Carroll, the likely National League Rookie of the Year.

My story from late April 2021 was another matter. I described the Diamondbacks as a “club emerging as a possible contender for a playoff berth,” a poor prediction if there ever was one. The Diamondbacks wound up losing [ahem] 110 games.

Last season, Arizona improved by 22 wins but still finished only 74-88, a performance that did not exactly merit hosannas from yours truly. This season, the club was much more interesting, and Jayson Stark wrote in June about how the Diamondbacks were one of the teams capitalizing on Major League Baseball’s new rules and surprising the sport.

But not wanting to ruin anything, I mostly kept my distance until combining with Will Sammon on a feature about a deadline acquisition, outfielder Tommy Pham, in early September.

Around that time, with the Diamondbacks still in contention, Hazen and I jokingly discussed the idea of him publicly apologizing to me. Why? Because he had discouraged me from honoring his club with one of my literary masterpieces, therefore robbing fans everywhere of the enlightenment only I can provide.

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Or something like that.

I told Hazen that he need not apologize. But on Sept. 20, with the Diamondbacks closing in on their 84-win wild card, I sent him another text: “You know what? Upon reflection, a public apology may be in order.”

He replied, “Hahahaha.”

Hazen thought he got the last laugh, but covering the Series for The Athletic and Fox Sports, I’ll get the last word. I’d say the Diamondbacks should be worried, but they’re past that. Whatever spell I cast on them previously, they’ve made disappear.

Melvin will manage Giants

“But it’s not right; goodbye to you”

Free agency doesn’t start until five days after the World Series ends. The trade deadline was more than two months ago. This is the baseball equivalent of locking down screen time for all the teams that aren’t in the World Series.

So you would think that the rest of the NL West would calm down, take a break, and appreciate that one of their own just made it to the World Series.

Absolutely not. The Padres and Giants were left unattended for like, five whole minutes and now a smoke alarm is going off and there’s gum in someone’s hair.

As we told you yesterday, the Padres had given the Giants permission to interview manager Bob Melvin for their open position. Apparently, the interview went well, because the team announced Melvin as their new manager this morning.

As Andrew Baggarly points out in that story, the Giants hope that Melvin’s stability can be the difference-maker for a team that contended from April through August, only to wilt down the stretch.

Meanwhile, in San Diego, GM A.J. Preller will begin the process of deciding who will be the fifth manager to work under him since his arrival in August 2014.

With apologies to an underrated city that did not earn this stray, here is my favorite quote in that story by Dennis Lin:

“It’s a mess,” one National League official said. “But, you’re not going to Kansas City. You’re going to San Diego.”

By the way, this isn’t the only major move expected to be finalized in the coming days. Yesterday, we reported that the Red Sox had officially made an offer to Craig Breslow — currently a member of the Cubs front office, but a former pitcher for the Red Sox (and six other teams) — to take over baseball operations in Boston. Chad Jennings has more here.

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To keep up with all the front office and managerial moves this offseason, bookmark our tracker.

World Series storylines

“Living in the wild, wild west”

This is an incomplete list, of course. But now that we know the two World Series teams, here are three less obvious storylines that I think are interesting.

Rookies Galore: OK, maybe this one is a little obvious. Carroll is your likely NL Rookie of the Year. Josh Jung probably would’ve won the AL version but for a lengthy stint on the IL. But they’re not the only two exciting rookies; 21-year-old Evan Carter has just 75 regular-season plate appearances in the big leagues and has been hitting third in the Rangers’ lineup of late. Pfaadt has 22 strikeouts and just three walks in 16 2/3 postseason innings.

Rematch of the Dads: On the flip side, there’s a good chance we’ll get to see 37-year-old Evan Longoria take at least one at-bat against 39-year-old Max Scherzer. It won’t be the first time they’ve met in the postseason — in 2021, Longoria’s Giants clashed with Scherzer’s Dodgers. In the fifth inning of Game 3, Longoria homered off Scherzer to score the game’s only run. Scherzer got the final say, however — Longoria was in the on-deck circle in Game 5 when Scherzer, working in relief, struck out Wilmer Flores to end the series.

Jeff Banister Revenge Tour: Banister, now the bench coach for the Diamondbacks, was the Rangers’ manager from 2015-2018, leading the team to the ALDS in 2015 and 2016. Also, the D-backs were the team that drafted Scherzer, who pitched two seasons in Phoenix before being traded to the Detroit Tigers before the 2010 season. And then there’s Ian Kennedy, who pitched five years over two stints with Arizona, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll even be on the World Series roster, having pitched just 16 1/3 innings (7.16 ERA) for the Rangers this year.

Handshakes and High Fives

It can be a lot of fun to take a walk down memory lane with a player. In this case, Lukas Weese did just that with Josh Beckett, recounting Beckett’s shutout of the Yankees to clinch the 2003 World Series for the Marlins, 20 years ago today.

Want to know who’s going and who’s staying with the Twins? Dan Hayes does his best to predict what will happen in Minnesota when free agency begins.

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(Top photo of Jose Herrera and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.: Elsa / Getty Images)