The Rays have a juggernaut of momentum going their way as they closed the season with five straight wins to bamboozle a stunned Boston Red Sox team and storm into the playoffs. They set a record by being the first team to make the playoffs after heading into the final month 9 games out. Tampa posted a 32-17 record after Aug. 8, showing that their surge is for real.

The Texas Rangers, on the other hand, led the AL West for the majority of the season and just concluded the best season in franchise history with 96 wins.

From a historical standpoint, Texas holds a distinct advantage. These two teams faced each other last year in the playoffs with Texas coming out on top en route to their first World Series appearance. Texas won five of its nine meetings with the Rays this season, taking two of three in Arlington, while splitting six games at Tropicana Field.

The thing I most look forward to in this match-up are the pitching matches as these two teams rank 2nd and 3rd in pitching the AL. Since the MLB postseason often becomes a pitcher’s game, these two squads are built to go the distance.

Joe Madden dropped a starting rotation pipe bomb earlier this week with his decision to start rookie pitcher Matt Moore for Game 1. Moore has only pitched in 3 big league games in his career, only one of which was a start. Now, the kid (we are all older than him, if you aren’t, you should be doing your homework right now young man) is obviously going to be the next in a long line of fantastic young pitchers for Tampa, but wouldn’t the nerves of starting the first game of the postseason get to a 22-year-old?

His task will not be easy on Friday, as he goes up against not only a lethal Texas line-up, but he goes toe-to-toe with “The Straight-Edge Southpaw” C.J. Wilson. Wilson, in addition to being Texas’s clear ace, was one of the best pitchers in all of baseball this past season.

Rangers Ace C.J. Wilson, who will start Game 1

Game 2 will feature a very game Derek Holland facing “Big/Complete Game” James Shields. He and Ian Kennedy have really come up huge this season, like a pair of Roy Halladay impersonators. Shields always had the talent and the ability, but this season he has really turned the swag on to join David Price at the front of the rotation.

Holland, no slouch in his own right, also had a breakout season in Texas that went largely under the radar. The pitching complete match-ups are at end of this preview and show Holland’s record. Tell me you expected him to have a record that good. If you knew he went 16-5, you obviously had him on your fantasy team or are Nana Holland.

From there, the probable pitchers are me going with my gut on match-ups. Nothing has been announced, but with the likes of Price, Hellickson, Ogando, Lewis and Harrison all available, these two teams have way too many weapons to utilize.

For an offensive perspective, there is 100%, absolutely no question that Texas dominates. In fact, of all eight playoff teams, Texas boasts the most dangerous offense in my opinion.

Josh Hamilton (.298/.346/.536, 25HR, 94RBI), Adrian Beltre (.296/.331/.561, 32HR, 105RBI), Ian Kinsler (32HR, 30SB, 121Runs), Nelson Cruz (29HR, 87RBI), Michael Young (.338/.380/.474 106RBI) and Mike Napoli (.320/.414/.631, 30HR, 75RBI) read like a laundry list of hitters any other team in the league would want in their lineups. Can you believe Napoli was traded by both the Angels and the Blue Jays last offseason? Or that Texas nearly traded what they believed was a declining Michael Young? In both cases Texas benefited huge from other teams napping, as almost every member of the roster has had a big season.

By contrast, the Rays have focused on “The Extra 2%” (if you don’t get that, you need to read more. Great book), but coming into this year, their offense looked anemic compared not only to previous Rays teams, but most of the rest of the league.

Their one incoming ace-in-the-hole, Manny Ramirez, played five games before “retiring” due to failing another drug test. Things looked bleak. Tampa however was able to come up with offense when needed (unless Price was starting). Evan Longoria (31HR, 99RBI) led the majors in second-half RBI, including 2HR and 4RBI in Tampa’s now famous 8-7 victory vs. The Yankees to make the playoffs. They also received a shot in the arm from “The Desmond Jennings Experience” but that came at the expense of playing time for Twitter’s favorite son Sam Fuld.

To me, Tampa’s offense, which does not boast a .300 hitter besides a surprising Casey Kotchman, a single 100RBI guy ,and only three players with 20HR (Longoria, Zobrist and the crappy Upton brother) only has one statistic going it’s way: success.

Tampa is a true-life example of that awful sports cliché of a team that “finds a way to win”. A team comprised of spare parts and utility players should not be this successful, but they just are. Yes, the reason Tampa wins games is amazing pitching, but you won’t win any games 0-0.

Joe Madden has this successful team in the AL East playing like a National League team from the 1980s. Smallball, speed, and “clutch” performances. The only thing missing is Keith Hernandez’s glorious lipjacket and wide-spread cocaine use.

Now let’s point out the elephant in the room here: Joe Madden is a super genius. He’s counting cards or has a time machine or something. No manager in baseball always seems to make the right move like he does.

Wednesday’s game vs. the Yankees, while a thin slice of the season, is the prototypical example of his ability to manage. Not to mention his demeanor and coaching style has to be something special the way he always brings these rag-tag teams to victory. He could call for a triple play with 2 outs and somehow record baseball’s first 5 out inning.

At this point, I not only drink the Joe Madden Kool-Aid, I’m smashing through brick walls and saying, “OH YEAH!”

He is the intangible, the X-Factor and the reason why, despite equal pitching and an inferior offense, Tampa Bay will somehow beat Texas when they have no right to.

ALDS Prediction: Tampa Bay in 5 games

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Tampa Bay Rays v Texas Rangers ALDS TV Schedule and Pitching Matchups

TV Schedule

• TV Network: TBS (Game 2 on TNT taking the spot of WCW Saturday Night)
• Game 1: Friday, Sep. 30 at 5:07 p.m. ET @ Texas
• Game 2: Saturday, Oct. 1 at 7:07 p.m. ET @ Texas
• Game 3: Monday, Oct. 3 at 5:07 p.m. ET @ Tampa Bay
• Game 4: Tuesday Oct. 4 time TBA @ Tampa Bay
• Game 5: Thursday Oct. 6 time TBA @ Texas

Pitching Matchups

• Game 1: Matt Moore (1-0, 2.89 ERA) vs. CJ Wilson (16-7, 2.94)
• Game 2: James Shields (16-12, 2.82) vs. Derek Holland (16-5, 3.95)
• Game 3 (probable): David Price (12-13, 3.49) vs. Colby Lewis (14-10, 4.40
• Game 4 (probable): Jeremy Hellickson (13-10, 2.95) vs. Matt Harrison (14-9, 3.39)
• Game 5 (probable): James Shields (16-12, 2.82) vs. CJ Wilson (16-7, 2.94)

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* – C.J. Wilson photo credit: Sports And Meat
* – Joe Madden photo credit: cltampa.com

And since I live in Dallas, I have to admit that I have adopted the eminently likable Texas Rangers as the team I’m pulling for to win it all.

Cliff Lee strapped the Rangers onto his shoulders against the Rays and won two of the three games that ultimately propelled Texas into the ALCS to face the Yankees, for what should be a competitive, entertaining series.

I’m sure that AJ will preview both the ALCS and NLCS for us soon. This morning, I would simply like to offer up two pictures that perfectly sum up the 2010 Texas Rangers and how baseball fever is capturing this perpetually football-obsessed town.

First, there is this picture from the Rangers’ clubhouse celebration last night. It features the entire Texas roster dousing Josh Hamilton with Ginger Ale in one of the greatest, most obvious displays of team unity I’ve ever seen in a postgame celebration.

Image credit: AP Photo/Chris O’Meara via ESPN.com

As you undoubtedly know, Hamilton is a recovering drug addict. That the team had Ginger Ale ready so he could partake in the celebration, and that his teammates were conscientious enough to make including him such a unified act should tell you all you need to know about the chemistry this team has.

Who knows if winning breeds chemistry or if chemistry breeds winning or if it’s somewhere in the middle, but it’s clear that this team had strong chemistry from the beginning with how they handled Ron Washington’s cocaine admission.

And speaking of the Rangers’ skipper, he has gone from being a nearly fired laughingstock to being beloved. Winning will do that, of course, but so does being earnest and hard-working, both of which Washington has proven himself to be. He exemplifies the likability of this Rangers team, from his triumph over adversity to his…endearing…manner of speaking.

That “Wash Talk” is summed up perfectly by this photo, which was taken this morning in Dallas by one of the producers of 1310 The Ticket:

Image source: Plixi via Twitter

Take a core of young talent, add established playoff veterans like Vladimir Guerrero and Cliff Lee, and then ride chemistry and strong fundamentals to the ALCS? Yes Wash, that indeed the way baseball go.

For those of you who do not live in Dallas, let me just stress how rare a sight the above photo is, especially during football season. But the combination of how exciting this Rangers team has been plus how crappy the Cowboys are has created the perfect confluence of events for baseball to take over the Metroplex. As a neutral observer, I have to say that it’s nice to see.

And for the record, if you’re not a Yankees and you aren’t rooting for the Rangers in the ALCS, you’re either a FOX exec or you have no heart.

Cliff Lee vs Roy Halladay in Philadelphia for Game 1 of the World Series? Yes, please.

]]> http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2010/10/these-two-pictures-sum-up-the-2010-texas-rangers/feed/ 2 http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2008/10/mlb-playoffs-white-sox-beat-rays-and-i-got-to-come-clean/ http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/2008/10/mlb-playoffs-white-sox-beat-rays-and-i-got-to-come-clean/#comments Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:59:49 +0000 Kaner http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/?p=347 I guess I may as well come out and say it. I don’t want to sound like a traitor but I have to be honest here. I grew up in the Trop. I own a Rays hat, a Carl Crawford jersey and my family was at game 2. Now that the Sox have been eliminated I feel like I had to come clean. This, was a tough series to watch. Having not lived in Southwest Florida for almost six years now, my frequency at the Trop fell. I wasn’t getting Bucs coverage and my relationship faded. I moved here to S. 45^th St. and Wells two years ago and as I have mentioned listened to raining fireworks for two summers and grew fond of the Sox.

It’s hard, when you get no love from your own squad. They barely make Sportscenter and the only thing other fans outside of the Bay say is, “Your team should be in AAA.” I spent my college years in Boston in a sea of Red Sox and Yankees who just laughed at me. It was an amusement, “Wait, are you a Rays’ fan?…..Wow, that’s….That sucks. HA! Man, didn’t think there were any Rays fans.” Well, we exist and we have feelings, thank you. It stung a lot when you got to see AL playoffs that you thought you would never, ever see. There was no tradition of winning, there was not a major Rays’ nation, we played in a dome! Knowing what I know about the Rays, home games and a childhood spent there seemed to pale in comparison to my friends who grew up in Yankee Stadium, Fenway, even Camden Yards. We were a laughing stock compared to the epic ALCS matchups of 2004, 2005. My team was hard to embrace in the face of some best baseball games ever played, games that I would never get to be a part of.

I got over it, I made trips to Fenway knowing I could see my team and get a ticket that wasn’t in high demand on the corner of Yawkey. I kept the talk of my allegiance to the top of my head and paid more attention to the news in baseball. I hate to say it like this, but I faded.

Growing up going to games at the Trop was easy, you could get in for 8 bucks and sit 8 rows above the dugout by the second inning. It was even more common because my pops worked for Tropicana. News of free corporate tickets would drift through email chains and my Dad would end up leaving a voice mail at home saying, “Just got four tickets to the Rays game on Saturday, who’s in? Don’t all jump at once.” I loved going, we would drink in the parking lot, buy beer with someone’s brothers’ fake ID, and eat dollar dogs. It was a great way to spend a lazy summer day. I loved my team, but I wanted to taste October.

When I moved to Chicago, I knew I couldn’t root for the Cubs, to me they stunk of the Red Sox and Yankees with fans who were spoiled by tradition and pride of any sort that I couldn’t find in any corner of the Trop. I felt comfortable with following the Sox. They were a team that I could relate to, that I lived near and was surrounded by constantly. You start to follow a team, simply by the city you live in and you grow on a squad. You go to games and you gotta’ cheer for someone, pick the local boys. So, I did. Got plenty of chances to games, went all the time as a baseball fan but the Cell grew on me. I liked that team, they seemed humble like my hometown boys. Especially, in the ’07 season.

I knew that there would only be so many games when I had to pick sides and never thought that it would be in a game that mattered. They never really did, until I went to the Rays series in August this year. The White Sox got tested and the Rays won the series in a commanding fashion. I watched with mixed emotion trying to make sense of it all. Who are you? Who is this team wearing blue and white? Where’s the Devil Rays of purple and green? The team who was a joke. The team who I wanted to break out since I was 11. Now, a decade later, you mean something? When I’ve started talking to another team.

I knew the Rays would win the division but wasn’t close enough to New England anymore to relish it like I would have. I got my digs in on the Yankees and loved dethroning the Red Sox. (I can’t wait till Red Sox fans piss and moan and, then, piss their spoiled ass pants, when the Rays win this ALCS. Fuck Brady. Fuck Papelbon. Fuck Paul Pierce.)

This was different. I like the White Sox. I went to the Twins playoff game alone cause I wanted to be a part of the Sox run. Knowing, full well, that a White Sox win would force a series start in Tampa Bay. What would I do? I waffled and rooted for the series to go deep, just to enjoy the ride. I couldn’t ask for something more fulfilling than to know that I had the luck of being happy with either team going to the playoffs. I felt a huge swell of pride, knowing that the Red Sox were the wildcard and the Twins had to go home.

But I was clearly torn. I stumbled through conversations about my colors during the series. I just changed the subject tried to explain my situation. My father wrote an accusatory text message from Tropicana Field during game 2, “Remember where you were Raysed, boy.” I was torn. I knew game one would go to the Rays and I was good there. Game two was understood, frustrating for the Sox fan in me because a sweep was on the horizon. We got over that hump Sunday and I was glad to know that a game 4 would be played Monday. After Upton’s homerun, though, I knew it was coming. This Rays team is good and we were on the ropes by the 4^th. Even though a number of my expletives expressed frustration with Sox hitting I walked away from the game thinking. Is my Crawford jersey clean? Cause I’m gonna fucking murder some Red Sox fans and lose my voice in bar, send obnoxious voicemails to all my spoiled college buddies wearing their Brady jersey and ’04 World Series hats. Then I’m gonna take a day off work and go see a World Series game in the Trop with my buddies who still live with their parents. Who can’t get excited for that opportunity?

Fairweather, traitor, bandwagon? Yeah, I get it, feel free to launch them all at me but I really don’t care because I’m in love with baseball, and right now, it loves me back.

[tags]live chat, chicago white sox, tampa bay rays, baseball, mlb, mlb playoffs[/tags]