{"id":8356,"date":"2023-10-05T14:24:33","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T21:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportrelay.com\/mlb\/?p=8356"},"modified":"2023-10-05T14:24:33","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T21:24:33","slug":"rangers-sweep-rays-advance-to-alds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportrelay.com\/mlb\/2023\/10\/05\/rangers-sweep-rays-advance-to-alds\/","title":{"rendered":"Rangers Sweep Rays, Advance to ALDS"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Texas Rangers<\/a> beat the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a>, 7\u20131, earning the AL Wild Card series sweep Wednesday afternoon at Tropicana Field. With this win, they have punched their ticket for the AL Division Series. In that series, they will be facing the AL East Champion Baltimore Orioles<\/a>. This could prove to be a challenge for the Rangers. They will start that series on the road at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The first game of the ALDS will be on Saturday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 12:03 pm Central. Both teams have yet to announce their starting pitchers for the series opener.\u00a0 Before that series begins, however, we’ll take a look at what went right for the Rangers and what went wrong for the Rays in this two-game sweep.<\/p>\n

Flashes of 2010<\/h4>\n

This isn’t the first time that the Rangers and Rays have faced each other in a playoff scenario. The last time the Rangers made a World Series run in 2010, they had to get past the Rays in the ALDS to do it. In the first two games of that series, the Rangers beat the Rays 11\u20131. It was eerily similar in this series, as they beat the Rays 4\u20130 in the first game, and 7\u20131 in the second game. Just like this year’s AL Wild Card series, those games in 2010 were also played at Tropicana Field. The Rangers won that series three games to two.<\/p>\n

Seager and Carter Shine<\/h4>\n

Everything that has worked for the Rangers all season was on full display in this series. Their pitching was great, and their offense was relentless. One guy that really stood out for the Rangers in these two games was Corey Seager<\/a><\/strong>. Seager had two hits in each of those wins and came away from the series batting .500 (4-for-8). He hit three doubles, drove in two. He reminded everybody that it looks as if he can still do it at this time of year, because he absolutely has done it before. Seager was with the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> in 2020 when they won the World Series in Arlington, which would eventually become his new baseball home. Seager won both the NLCS MVP and the World Series MVP.<\/p>\n

Rookie outfielder Evan Carter<\/a><\/strong> also had a big moment, as he chipped in with his first career home run in the post season in Game Two. Rangers third baseman Josh Jung<\/a><\/strong> also had a good evening in the second game. Jung went 3-for-4 with two doubles. All of these things went a long way in beating the Rays, who finished the regular season with a record of 99\u201363.<\/p>\n