ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Nathan Eovaldi and the Rangers weren’t planning on being away from home for two weeks on a coast-to-coast trip, not after they left Texas in control of the American League West.
This journey will ultimately bring the Rangers back home for their first playoff game at Globe Life Field. They had already won four games, a postseason series and will have a star pitcher on the mound on Tuesday for a possible decisive game against the Baltimore Orioles.
“How they responded says a lot about them. All year we have had to recover from difficult losses and injuries. And they just focused on the future,” said first-year Texas manager Bruce Bochy. “It feels like we’ve been gone a month.”
Well, it was only half as long, but more than double what Texas thought when it played its last home game on September 24. That day they said goodbye with a two and a half game lead in the division lead before finishing the campaign with seven games on the West Coast and which concluded with three losses in their last four games against Seattle.
Instead of finishing as division champions, with a first-series bye and home-field advantage, Texas had to travel across the country for the wild-card series, which they ended up sweeping in Tampa Bay. They then traveled to Baltimore to start the division series.
Dean Kremer will take the mound for Game 3 for Baltimore, which won 101 games and never lost a regular-season series in a sweep. The Orioles won two of three in Texas in the first week of the season.
NOT THE FIRST
It will not be the first playoff game at Globe Life Field, although the Rangers have never played the postseason in the stadium they opened in 2020. This stadium was one of the MLB’s neutral venues during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the World Series that the Dodgers won.
LONG TIME
Since they beat St. Louis in Game 5 of the 2011 World Series and ended on the road, Texas has lost five playoff games. The streak began with the wild card game against Baltimore in 2012 and continued with the Divisional Series home games in 2015 and 2016, when Toronto won both series.
The Rangers began the 2015 Division Series with two road wins, but lost both at home before returning to Toronto and were swept in 2016.
2023-10-10 06:18:08
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