Baltimore at Texas
Time: 8:37 PM (ET)
Network: TBS
For game two of Wild-Card Friday, we see the Texas Rangers led by Yu Darvish (16-9) as he makes his MLB post-season debut against the Joe Saunders (9-13) of the Baltimore Orioles. The Rangers were victims to a September collapse losing their division lead in the AL West over the Oakland Athletics as well as losing 7 of their last 10 games in their hunt for October.
Josh Hamilton who’s the best player on the Rangers team has been playing on cruise control this entire season falling to the third spot behind Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus. This could possibly be his last game in Rangers uniform if they lose this game with his pending move to the Detroit Tigers this winter as he’ll be a free agent after the season. Baltimore has been one of the stories of the MLB this year as they’ve finally made the playoff for the first time in 15 years. Orioles Adam Jones and Chris Davis have both hit 30-plus homers this year anchoring the team into the postseason this year.
Although both teams finished with identical records, the Rangers won the season series 5-2. For Texas to win this game, they’re going to have to blow the game open from the start jumping out to big lead because if the game is close heading past the 7th inning stretch, nobody is better in baseball than Baltimore at winning close as they’ve won 16 consecutive extra-inning wins. Rangers have the experience but the Orioles have by far the better bullpen if the game remains close, simple. My pick is Baltimore to win because I have doubts whether the Rangers heads are in the game right now after their horrific September play. The only advantage they have today in my opinion is just playing at home so anything is possible in a 1-game series.