5 World Series stars who could leave for other teams next season

The 2023 World Series features a matchup nobody could've possibly predicted even when the playoffs began with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers facing off. Arizona is looking for their second World Series championship in franchise history after squeaking into the playoffs as an 84-win Wild Card team. The Rangers are looking to win their first World Series after their two crushing losses in 2011 and 2012.

While both of these teams are focused only on trying to win right now, the Diamondbacks and Rangers have some valuable players approaching free agency. As much as they'd love to keep their teams together, there's a good chance these players depart for other teams on lucrative contracts.

1) Jordan Montgomery can leave the Texas Rangers for another team next season

The Rangers defied all odds just to get to this point, and that's because of the injuries they've had to deal with. The biggest loss Texas has had this season was the loss of their ace, Jacob deGrom who has missed most of this season and will miss all of next after undergoing Tommy John Surgery. The Rangers winning the AL Pennant without deGrom was no easy task, and the trade deadline had a lot to do with it.

Max Scherzer was the biggest name the Rangers acquired, but he missed time due to injury including the first two rounds of the postseason, and has been inconsistent when healthy. The best acquisition they made without a doubt was Jordan Montgomery who has formed a dominant top of Texas' rotation alongside Nathan Eovaldi.

Montgomery was in the midst of a fine year with the reeling Cardinals before being traded, but once he arrived in a winning situation he turned it on down the stretch. In the regular season, Montgomery had a 2.79 ERA in 11 starts and 67.2 innings pitched. He played a huge role in the Rangers just making the playoffs.

Montgomery's hot finish earned him the Game 1 start of the Wild Card series in Tampa Bay. He responded with seven scoreless innings in a Rangers win. Montgomery has pitched brilliantly in his first four playoff starts of this year, posting a 2.38 ERA in 22.2 innings of work and leading the Rangers to a 3-1 record in those starts. His one relief outing of these playoffs was extremely memorable, as he delivered 2.1 scoreless innings in Game 7 of the ALCS against Houston.

Montgomery has asserted himself as a legitimate frontline starter, and he's going to be paid like it. With the Rangers having so much money on their books already, there's a good chance they're outbid for his services in free agency.