No one expected the Texas Rangers to get rolling in October. After sweeping the Rays, they have taken the first two from the Orioles.
Every game so far in the post season has been on the road. They get to play their first home on Tuesday against he O’s.
The Rangers have been patient at the plate, which helped them walk 11 times in Sunday’s game.
“I think yesterday, not all of us, but a lot of us felt the moment was pretty big,” Semien said after the game. “We were a little more swing heavy yesterday. Today, we knew the environment. We understood that we’re not going to score a lot of runs doing what we did yesterday. Yes, we won the game, but let’s try and control the strike zone a little bit more, make it hard on this young pitcher. We definitely did that.”
Coming Home
The Rangers come rolling into Arlington with a 2-0 lead in a best of 5 series. The series is far from over, but the Rangers are in great position to make their first American League Championship Series since 2011.
The team is excited to finally get back home for a game. It has been two weeks.
The crowd should be rocking at Globe Life Field on Tuesday night and Wednesday if needed.
“I think overall, we’ve been playing good baseball at home, and now we have an even bigger crowd behind us. It’ll be fun.” Semien added.
The Rangers can close out the ALDS as early as Tuesday night. If they do, they will start the postseason a perfect 5-0.
Rangers fans remember how disappointing the season ended, and they had little hope going into the Wild Card Series.
Improvement
Thee team can trust Josh Sborz. They can trust Jose LeClerc, who are both rolling.
Cody Bradford was dominated in his 3.2 innings. He gave up no runs on 3 hits and 4 strike outs.
Bullpen reliability overall is still a problem. However, it is not as much of a problem as it was earlier in the season.
Reliability is something they will need to succeed for the remainder of this post season.
Nathan Eovaldi gets the start on Tuesday, and he looked like the old Eovaldi in his last start.
Close it Out
If the Texas Rangers can close it out on Tuesday night, it will be a big boost for them rolling into the ALCS. What they don’t need to do is mess around and let the Orioles back into this series.
Defeat the Orioles, and the Rangers will have beat the two best records in the American League. That is quite an impressive start to the 2023 postseason.
