Before I get to some scattered thoughts on where these two teams stand, I thought it might be interesting to contrast how they were built, especially how each franchise's recent high draft picks played into their success this year.
Texas Rangers
The Rangers reached the World Series through good drafting, shrewd trading and some solid bargain-basement pickups, but their 25-man roster won't include a single one of their own true first-round picks; the highest draft picks on their American League Championship Series roster were all supplemental-round selections, including Colby Lewis, Tommy Hunter and Julio Borbon.