Rangers to face Tampa Bay in Game 1 of Wild Card Series after roller coaster season
ARLINGTON (CBSNewsTexas.com) – Perhaps it's fitting that the final month of this baseball season ended in roller coaster fashion for the Rangers this weekend in Seattle.
They rode a wave of excitement into the 9th inning of Thursday's first game of the four-game series with the Mariners, when they were just one out away from clinching a playoff spot. However, Seattle's J. P. Crawford slashed a walk-off two-run double into the left field corner to force the Rangers to postpone their celebration.
Then on Saturday night, the roller coaster ride reached its apex with a Wild Card Playoff clinching victory that set off a raucous champagne celebration in the visitor's clubhouse at T-Mobile Park.
However, there was still more work to be done. They still needed to win on Sunday afternoon to clinch the American League West title and a first round bye in the playoffs. Instead, Rangers bats went silent again. They lost to the Mariners, 1-0, while the Astros completed their sweep of the Diamondbacks, 8-1.
So, Houston and Texas tie for first place in the Western Division, but the Astros win the head-to-head tiebreaker and now get five days of rest. They'll host a Division Series starting next Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Rangers don't even get to go home. They travel straight to St. Petersburg to play a best-of-three Wild Card Series against the Tampa Bay Rays starting at 2 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon. Game 2 is at that same time on Wednesday. If needed, Game 3 would be Thursday.
If the Rangers win the series with the Rays, they will travel to Baltimore to begin a Division Series on Saturday. So, best case scenario, the Rangers will have spent 14 straight days on the road before returning home to host Game 3 of the Division Series on Tuesday, Oct. 10.
Yes, the Rangers are happy to be playoff-bound for the first time in seven years. But this "Texas Giant" roller coaster ride figures to have a few more swerves and curves as it makes its way back to the Road to Six Flags in Arlington.
