He pitched the Rangers to the Division Series can he pitch them into the ALCS today?

This is it. By the end of the day today the Rangers season will be over or they will be advancing to the ALCS to face either the Royals or Astros. It has come to this after two uninspiring performances in Arlington that saw them lose 5-1 and 8-4. They lost game 4 after Derek Holland had a terrible outing that saw the Royals jump out to a 7-0 lead and hold on for an 8-4 victory. Derek Holland was throwing what he described as “beach balls” up to the plate. I can’t say that I stayed around to watch. I was at work and watched the first three innings on my phone and after that I checked out to do the work that I was getting paid for. There were a couple of good things that came out of the game. First, Adrian Beltre played all 9 innings and got two hits and didn’t look limited in the field. He is likely a go for today. Shin Soo Choo also got a couple of hits as well and hopefully can continue that into today. Finally, David Price pitched in a 7-1 game and proceeded to pitch 3 innings and his manager said after the game that he would be unavailable for game 5. I was expecting Price to start game 5, that is what they supposedly traded for was a guy who could start these big games. John Gibbons, the Toronto manager, obviously trusts Marcus Stroman more to handle the starting responsibilities for today. We shall see how that goes. Texas will be handing the ball to staff ace Cole Hamels. He will be pitching in a situation much like he did in game 162, except instead of a wild card game or division it will be for their season.

As I look at this game and have been thinking about it since Monday afternoon there is 10 times more pressure on Toronto than there is Texas. If Texas loses then it has still been an unbelievable season and they can look toward 2016 and think that they will have an even better shot of winning it all next year. That better shot comes because Yu Darvish will be back in the rotation, having Cole Hamels for an entire season, Martin Perez further removed from Tommy John, hopefully a healthy Derek Holland, and prospects such as Joey Gallo, Nomar Mazara, and Lewis Brinson all ready to break through and contribute as soon as next season. Toronto on the other hand could potentially lose David Price in the offseason and while that may not set them too far back, the fact that the Boston Red Sox have loads of young talent and will be ready to compete as soon as next season could make it harder to make it back to the playoffs next season. Toronto also has been by far and way the best team in the AL since the trade deadline and who knows if they will be able to duplicate that next season. Toronto also is at home for this game in front of fans that are desperate to see this team advance not only past this round but all the way to the World Series. I am going to be watching and hoping for the best from the Rangers but if they lose I am not going to be too disappointed because they have given me as a fan quite the ride this season from last place in May to winning the division on the last day of the season. Here are some things again that I think will help the Rangers be able to win this game.

Keys to Winning Game 5

1. Cole Hamels must get off to a good start. In his last three starts Hamels has given up multiple runs in the first inning. He gave up 2 in the first to the Tigers, 2 in the first to the Angels, and 1 in the first to the Blue Jays in game 2. He must keep the Jays off the board early and give the offense a chance to stake themselves out to a lead. The Jays are a team that front runs, but doesn’t really like playing in close games. Hamels will need to keep the ball down, be efficient with his pitch count, and keep the Blue Jays off the board for as long as he can. The goal for him has to be going 6-7 innings and have the ability to hand a lead over to the bullpen to be able to finish it out.
2. I have been saying this every game so far, but the Rangers have to score early. The Rogers Centre crowd is going to be really loud, but one way to take them out of the game is to establish a lead early. That will create some doubt in the mind of not only the fans but the players as well. That means we need the top of the order guys like Delino Deshields Jr. and Choo to get on base and Prince and Adrian to drive them in. Prince is in an 84 at-bat postseason RBI drought. I look for him to break out today and get 1-2 RBI’s. They have not had a big hit from the middle of the order this entire series. Today would be a good day for that to happen. This Rangers team has played well on the road all season long and they need to take that same attitude and approach that they have taken with them on the road all season. As I said in a previous article the Rangers tied for second best road record in all of baseball. They know what to do in a high pressure road environment.
3. Jeff Bannister said this one in his post game presser after game 4, he said the players cannot let the moment overwhelm them. This is high stakes baseball this afternoon and while some like Elvis Andrus, Mitch Moreland, Adrian Beltre, and Josh Hamilton have been in this exact situation the majority of players in that clubhouse have not. They cannot try to do more than they normally do. That means pressing out in the field and making errors on routine plays, swinging for home runs on every pitch, and trying to do more than what the players skill set allows. All of the players have to stay within themselves and do what the game calls for. The players have to stay focused on the task at hand and get all 27 outs. A lead in the 4th inning does not equal a victory. This is going to be one of the hardest games for the Rangers to win, but if they can do it then anything is possible for this team.

Final Thoughts on Game 5

The comparison between this series and the Rangers series in 2010 against the Rays has been made a lot this past week. Lets take a look back at that 2010 ALDS series with the Tampa Bay Rays and see how they compare. They started out in 2010 by beating David Price and the Rays on the road in games 1 and 2. They followed that up with blowing a late lead against the Rays in game 3, and the Rays jumped on Tommy Hunter 5-0 in game 4 and held on to win 5-2. Then the Rangers sent their ace who they traded for midseason to pitch game 5 and he pitched them to the ALCS. This series the Rangers beat David Price and the Jays and won games 1 and 2. Game 1 was close 5-3 and game 2 went into 14 innings and the Rangers won 6-4. They then lost game 3 when Chi Chi Gonzalez gave up a crushing 3-run home run to Troy Tulowitzki to extend Toronto’s lead to 5-0. They lost game 4 when Toronto jumped out a 7-0 lead and held on late. Just like in 2010 the Rangers send their ace that they traded for in midseason to help pitch them to the ALCS. History doesn’t always repeat itself though. Just because something happened 5 years ago does not mean it will happen today. The Rangers are going to have to earn their way to the ALCS on their own merits. This Jays team is much more explosive than that Rays team was and if Cole Hamels and the team are not on their game early it can become very ugly. The Rangers have won Cole Hamel’s last 11 starts and so they obviously have confidence in him and he has pitched very well in most of those starts. He is going to have to pitch the game of his life against the best offense in all of major league baseball in order to deliver a win today. This is the reason why they brought him here is for games like this. I think he is going to pitch well and I think the Rangers will have a great shot at winning this game, but even if they don’t what a season it has been.

The game today is at 3:05 pm (CST) and will air on Fox Sports One. I can’t think of anything else to say other than GO RANGERS!!!!