Who to root for: 2023 World Series

 We are down to our final two baseball teams this year, and just as expected it will be Houston vs. Atlanta ..... wait its actually Texas vs. Arizona?  Crazy year, the Twins won a playoff game and Max Scherzer is in the World Series with Texas instead of the Mets.

As far as Iowa Connections go, we have 1 connection between the two teams, and its Dane Dunning of the Texas Rangers.  Dane pitched for the Waterloo Bucks back in 2014.  

However, lets dig deeper and see who on these teams has those secondary connections.  By that, I mean players who played minor league ball for one of the Iowa minor league teams.  They include teams from Cedar Rapids, Burlington, Quad Cities, Clinton and of course Iowa (Cubs).  

Note: I used Baseball reference to pull the list of players who played for each team this season

Note: Italics for coaches, bold for current active roster/staff

Texas (6) + Dane

Cedar Rapids: Will Smith (09), Mitch Garver (14), Bobby Wilson (04)

Clinton: Brad Miller (11), Grant Anderson (18)

Dubuque: Bruce Bochy (76)

Props for Bochy going for an Iowa Minor Connection from a defunct team!

Arizona (10)

Burlington: Austin Adams (13)

Clinton: Ketel Marte (12-13), Dan Carlson (91)

Quad Cities: Josh Rojas (17), Tommy Pham (07-08), Ryan Thompson (15), Peter Solomon (18), Joe Mather (05), Damion Easley (90)

Iowa: Rick Short (01)

So, who are we rooting for?  Well, its a complicated, sophisticated, scientifically proven formula that I am developing on the spot now.

10 points = Iowa Connection

4 points = Active Roster with minor league connection

2 points = Rostered at some point with minor league connection

Tiebreaker = Closest to Cedar Falls, Iowa

Texas = 10(1) + 4(4) + 2(2) = 30 Iowa Points

Arizona = 10(0) + 4(7) + 2(3) = 34 Iowa Points

Go Diamondbacks!