Tampa Bay Rays vs. Texas Rangers – MLB Preview
The Tampa Bay Rays have amazed the entire Baseball circuit, becoming the first club in the MLB to come from nine games behind in September and make a place in the play-offs. The club at one moment was not even looking to pass the Los Angeles Angels, but
a pure belief in their abilities has made the club history makers.
Evan Longoria was in the lime-light as he earned his franchise a place in October competitions striking a walk off home-run in the bottom of the 12th inning against the American League’s Champions New York Yankees. Before this historic win could
be recorded, the Rays had already made their mark over the Yankees with two consecutive triumphs.
"It's really a surreal feeling," said Longoria, who club was trailing, 7-0 against the Yankees on the final day of the season.
Despite winning this outing, the surety of the Rays’ inclusion in the play-offs was dependent on the Boston Red Sox situation. To their fortune, the Red Sox lost the most important outing of the season with a 3-4 result against the weak Baltimore Orioles
line-up, on September 28. Receiving their biggest blow, the Red Sox went home with a difference of just one win.
Rays’ starting pitcher, Matt Moore has put the opposition into serious shock since joining the club on September 22. He has shown a master piece display of high quality pitching, taking 11 strike-outs in his maiden game against the New York Yankees. His
five workout innings cost only four hits and one walk while he threw only 84 pitches to record his first win of the season.
The rest of the month did not provide the Rays a chance to employ their brilliant starter but as was expected, Tampa Bay will now provide him the biggest chance at the start of his career. He will open the play-off outing to set the foundation for the veteran
hurlers scheduled for later games of the series.
Moore will square off against C.J. Wilson, who has experience in the post-season, dating back to last season in which he was 1-2 with a 3.70 ERA in four starts. Wilson is getting a chance for the second straight time, after putting up 16-7 performance with
a 2.94 ERA.
Last year Wilson started the second outing against the Rays and worked just over six shut-out frames in the ALDS outing at Tropicana Field. As the Rays’ have almost the same squad, Wilson is in top form to crush them again.
"They are going to have the same line-ups pretty much they had in the regular season against me. So knowing that, I feel like -- even though we found out [our opponent] at the last minute -- I have all my notes and the video and that stuff to go through
and I feel prepared."
Both Rangers and Rays will be looking to put in a dominating performance from the first game in their exciting series. The Rangers have the experience of playing in the post-season, as the Rays can be quite unpredictable at times. It will be interesting
to see which team manages to step up and take a lead in the series.
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