ARLINGTON, Texas — Watch the Rangers vs. the Rays in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card on WFAA, with coverage beginning at 2 p.m. CT. Also, if you're watching over antenna, be sure to rescan your TV to get as crisp a broadcast feed as possible.
The postseason is here, and for the Texas Rangers, who finished the season at 90-72, their first playoff foray of the Chris Young Era begins against the Tampa Bay Rays in a best-of-3 series.
The format is different from the last time Texas was in the postseason, with the extra team now added to the playoff field. The Rangers and Rays will play to see who goes on to face the Baltimore Orioles, who won the American League East with 101 wins.
But the Rangers are concentrating on St. Petersburg, FL, Tropicana Field, and a Tampa Bay Rays team that looked as though they were the class of the league for much of the summer.
The match-up
Texas Rangers (0-0) @ Tampa Bay Rays (0-0), 2:08 PM CST. Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida. Broadcast on ABC - WFAA
Jordan Montgomery (10-11, 3.20 ERA) vs. Tyler Glasnow (10-7, 3.53 ERA)
The game within the game
Both the Rangers and Rays are where they are – Wild Card playoff participants – in spite of an astonishing number of injuries. The postseason showdown is a testament to the depth and resilience that both clubs have, as well as both teams utilizing their varying strengths going into the season. For the Rays, it’s their ability to develop quality pitching and have it ready to go when the bullpen falters or a frontline starter goes down.
In Texas, it was the buying power that enabled the team to relegate those who were starting pitchers last year to a “next man up” role.
The Rangers lost Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and now Jon Gray to the injured list, while having to send two of its starters from the Opening Day rotation to the bullpen. The Rays lost Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs from the top of their rotation.
Texas rode the arms of Dane Dunning, Nathan Eovaldi and trade deadline acquisition Jordan Montgomery down the stretch. Montgomery, who has been the Rangers’ best starter in the last two weeks, gets the ball in Game 1, with Eovaldi, the Rangers’ best pitcher for most of the season, and likely Dunning, the team’s most consistent pitcher, going in Games 2 and (if necessary) 3.
For Tampa Bay, Tyler Glasnow, Zach Eflin and their own trade deadline acquisition Aaron Civale have carried the pitching staff through September and they’ll likely get the ball to start in this series with Glasnow earning the Game 1 start.
Both Texas and Tampa Bay’s offenses are fairly evenly matched as potentially the two best lineups in the American League. The squads are coming in with team slash lines of .263/.337/.452 for Texas and .260/.331/.445 for Tampa Bay respectively. Both clubs have struck out around the same number of times and hit nearly the same number of home runs. Texas has the advantage in runs scored (881 to 860), total bases (1470 to 1432) and walks (599 to 514), but the Rays are more in the business of manufacturing runs as they’ve stolen 160 bases compared to Texas’ 79.
Game 1 will feature an intriguing matchup between the Rangers’ lefty Montgomery and Rays’ righty Glasnow where each starter will have the difficult challenge of stopping a dangerous group of hitters.
Montgomery is in a tough spot, however. The former St. Louis Cardinal has been the Rangers’ best starter over the last few times through the rotation, going 2-0 with an 0.67 ERA in 27 innings in his last four games. But Montgomery is at a disadvantage in facing the Rays as Tampa Bay is one of the best teams in the big leagues against left-handed pitching. The Rays slash .276/.351/.451 against southpaws.
Montgomery has weathered the disadvantage before as he has faced a Miami Marlins team that also sports a big platoon advantage against left-handed pitching. In two starts against the National League Wild Card combatants, who have a similar slash line against lefties as the Rays, Montgomery gave up just three runs in 12 innings while also picking up a win against them in his first start with Texas.
As a long time New York Yankee, Montgomery has gone 4-4 with a 5.12 ERA in 13 starts against the Rays over his career. Montgomery did not pitch against Tampa Bay this season, however.
Glasnow, meanwhile, faced the Rangers earlier this season, holding Texas to just one run on one hit in six innings at the start of June. At that point in time, the Rays and Rangers were leading the way in the standings. Glasnow over his career has been excellent against Texas, having won in each of his three career starts against Texas. The one run he gave up earlier this year was the first run that the righty has allowed to the Rangers in his career.
How the Rangers win
Texas is sending the best of what they have against a Tampa Bay team that is playing without excellent center fielder Jose Siri and power-hitting rookie Luke Raley. The Rays are also without Wander Franco, once one of the game’s most heralded young players, but is out indefinitely on administrative leave.
Texas, by position players and offense, would seem to have the edge against Tampa Bay in seven of the nine positions on the field in terms of overall player quality. But in the playoffs, pitching is king, and the Rays have the better pitching staff, all around, including a bullpen that has been masterfully filled out, as Tampa Bay often does.
Texas, over the last two weeks of the season, has done a great job of overexerting starters. With a patient eye and foul balls, many opponents that the Rangers have faced were pushing 45-50 pitches by the end of the second inning. Getting to Glasnow won’t be easy, but if Texas can work some counts and stay ahead of Glasnow, they have a much better chance of succeeding. For his career, opponents are slashing .290/.497/.523 when ahead in the count, a far cry from the .151/.154/.248 line when Glasnow is ahead.
There’s a little history on the Rangers’ side as well. The club hasn’t lost a postseason game at Tropicana Field. They’re 5-0, including the 2010 AL Division Series where the road team won each game – Tampa Bay had home field advantage and hosted three of the games before Texas won two more games at The Trop in the 2011 ALDS.
More recently, Texas won the season series against Tampa Bay this year, losing just the two games to the Rays in Tampa Bay in June before sweeping them in Arlington after the All-Star break.
History seems to believe in a favorable outcome for the Rangers, but it’s not as easy as popping in a DVD to watch old highlights. Postseason baseball starts today and the Rangers have a mission statement of Go and Take It.
Do you think the Rangers will get off to a good start to their postseason run in Game 1? Share your predictions with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
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