Post by dbackhon on Jul 9, 2019 13:03:28 GMT -5
RAYS vs Rangers
Tampa Bay (102-60): The Rays cruised into the postseason taking charge of the division early on the back of an amazing pitching staff led by perenial Cy Young contender Madison Bumgarner, Zach Wheeler, and Brett Honeywell. The staff is easily the best staff in the American League as the Rays allowed the least number of runs in the the entirety of the the PBA by a wide margin. The Rays only allowed 645 runs on the year, and have the best rotation ERA in the AL at 3.71. Tampa commanded the AL East and really the entire PBA over the first half of the season, entering the all-star break with over 60 wins including a stretch where the Rays did not drop a game in almost an entire month. Even with the Yankees performing well, Tampa's stranglehold on this division was never really in doubt. While Tampa did fade off of the torrid pace in the second half of the season it would be unfair to say that they flagged or struggled at any point this season. At the plate the Rays have a lineup completely stuffed with lefty batters that was 3rd in runs scored in the AL this season, led by All-Star 1B Casey Gillespie.
Texas (97-65): Unlike the Rays, Texas had to power through an extremely close divisional race to take the AL West crown over the Oakland Athletics. Texas has managed to overcome the traditional Texas slow start and has been consistent all year long to make it to this point and has done so as an extremely balanced team with no real weaknesses. The Rangers rotation, led by Cy Young contended Marcus Stroman, gave up the fourth fewest runs in the AL despite pitching in one of the most hitter friendly ballparks in the entire PBA and an extremely poor season from aging lefty Cole Hamels who will end the year with an era of 6.63 one of the worst in league history. However a late season injury to #2 starter Rick Porcello at the end of the year really hurts the top-end of their rotation. The Rangers lineup despite being in the middle of the pack in scoring wise but are second in the AL in home runs and it is easy to see why when you look at their lineup. Every regular starter has at least 15 HR on the year and at least from a power perspective there is no weak spot in this lineup.
Rays pitching vs Texas bats: Texas needs to hit and hit well if they are going to win this series, the Rays have leaned a lot of their incredible rotation and the Rays already had a clear pitching advantage in the series before Rick Porcello went down for 9 months. However I think that the Rangers have the ability to do so. The top end of the lineup, in particular Paul Goldshmidt, is right handed and the feast or famine lefties Rougned Odor and Kyle Seager have strangely been better against like-handed lefties than righties this season. If those two can feast on Matz and Bumgarner then Texas will stand a chance.
Texas pitching vs Rays bats: Now we have to address the elephant in the room... The entirety of the Rays lineup are lefties or switch hitters, and the entirety of the Texas rotation except for the aged Cole Hamels who I doubt should be given the ball in any capacity in the post season let alone a meaningful spot are right handed. To put it lightly the Rays have destroyed right handed pitching this year, going 78-38 against right handed starters this year. Texas starters will have an unfavorable handedness match-up even single at bat this series. It doesn't look much better for the bullpen either as the only southpaw in the pen is stud closer Alex Claudio.
Overall: Reading through this you might expect this series to be a bloodbath with the Rays having the edge in just about every regard. However the season series between these two teams actually favors the Texas Rangers who have a 4-2 record against the Rays this season including taking 2 of 3 games against the Rays to close out the season. These games were extremely important for Texas as they were must-win for the division crown as Oakland closed the season hot and was right on the Rangers tail until the very end... That shows a lot of guts and that Texas does have what it takes to win this series despite it looking a bit lopsided on paper.
Prediction: Rays in 6.
Texas (97-65): Unlike the Rays, Texas had to power through an extremely close divisional race to take the AL West crown over the Oakland Athletics. Texas has managed to overcome the traditional Texas slow start and has been consistent all year long to make it to this point and has done so as an extremely balanced team with no real weaknesses. The Rangers rotation, led by Cy Young contended Marcus Stroman, gave up the fourth fewest runs in the AL despite pitching in one of the most hitter friendly ballparks in the entire PBA and an extremely poor season from aging lefty Cole Hamels who will end the year with an era of 6.63 one of the worst in league history. However a late season injury to #2 starter Rick Porcello at the end of the year really hurts the top-end of their rotation. The Rangers lineup despite being in the middle of the pack in scoring wise but are second in the AL in home runs and it is easy to see why when you look at their lineup. Every regular starter has at least 15 HR on the year and at least from a power perspective there is no weak spot in this lineup.
Rays pitching vs Texas bats: Texas needs to hit and hit well if they are going to win this series, the Rays have leaned a lot of their incredible rotation and the Rays already had a clear pitching advantage in the series before Rick Porcello went down for 9 months. However I think that the Rangers have the ability to do so. The top end of the lineup, in particular Paul Goldshmidt, is right handed and the feast or famine lefties Rougned Odor and Kyle Seager have strangely been better against like-handed lefties than righties this season. If those two can feast on Matz and Bumgarner then Texas will stand a chance.
Texas pitching vs Rays bats: Now we have to address the elephant in the room... The entirety of the Rays lineup are lefties or switch hitters, and the entirety of the Texas rotation except for the aged Cole Hamels who I doubt should be given the ball in any capacity in the post season let alone a meaningful spot are right handed. To put it lightly the Rays have destroyed right handed pitching this year, going 78-38 against right handed starters this year. Texas starters will have an unfavorable handedness match-up even single at bat this series. It doesn't look much better for the bullpen either as the only southpaw in the pen is stud closer Alex Claudio.
Overall: Reading through this you might expect this series to be a bloodbath with the Rays having the edge in just about every regard. However the season series between these two teams actually favors the Texas Rangers who have a 4-2 record against the Rays this season including taking 2 of 3 games against the Rays to close out the season. These games were extremely important for Texas as they were must-win for the division crown as Oakland closed the season hot and was right on the Rangers tail until the very end... That shows a lot of guts and that Texas does have what it takes to win this series despite it looking a bit lopsided on paper.
Prediction: Rays in 6.