No I'm Not Kiddin' You, PLAYOFFS!

by Jacob Sailors:

For me, and a lot of fans, we are experiencing a sports first. For the first time in my cognizant sports life, I get to look ahead to a Rangers playoff run. Yes, the Rangers were in the playoffs in the 90's, but I was so young I barely remember even watching those games. There have been Stars, Mavs, Cowboys, and Sooner championship games and playoff runs in the past 10 years and they have been great, but what I have always really wanted was a legitimate shot at a Rangers World Series.

So how will we get there?

First thing is first: We have to go through Tampa. Before the AL East was decided, there were various reasons why I preferred the Yankees in the first round over the Rays. These are the same reasons that give me much trepidation about this series.
Baseball consists of endless statistics, therefore I won't bog the blog down with a ton of stats that are interesting but dry. Instead I will talk about what concerns me most about this series and you will have to trust that it is all backed up by statistics.

First of all, the Rays have scary pitching. David Price is possibly a Cy Young winner this year and has dominating stuff. Behind him are guys who also have incredible skill and can dominate an entire game any given day. For the Rangers to have success, they will have to be patient. If the Ranger hitters get ahead of themselves and start chasing pitches out of the zone, the Rays pitchers will have a field day with strikeouts. However, if the Rangers can demonstrate patience, the Rays' pitchers have a tendency to get out of control and get hit around.

The Rays can flat out fly around the bases. Crawford, Bartlett, Zobrist, and Upton can take over the series if they are consistently getting on base. Not only do can they fly, but our pitcher/catcher tandems have struggled hard core at holding runners and throwing out runners. If these guys are able to get on base numerous times, the Rangers are in trouble.

The Rays hit for power. Upton, Crawford, Pena, Longoria....these guys are scary. The good thing is, Crawford and Pena are lefties and will have a hard time against Cliff and CJ.

So, the Rangers have no chance right? Not so fast my friend.....here is what they need to happen:

Cliff Lee needs to dominate. Our future all-star first baseman was traded for this very scenario. If Cliff leaves the ball over the plate and gets roughed up like we're playing Baltimore, it's going to be a short series. If Cliff can 'did what Cliff do' for two games this series, the Rangers are in it.

The Rangers must hit. There have been times this season where the offense disappears and we wonder if we'll ever score more than 2 runs again. The talent is there, but they must show up and play to their capabilities. The good thing is, David Murphy pending, is we will have our full line up healthy and playing together for pretty much the first time this season. Wash said he thinks there were 8 games all season where he's had everyone in the lineup at the same time. Also going the Rangers way is David Price is the only left handed starting pitcher in the rotation. The Rangers hit righties much better than lefties.

These things the Rangers must do to win are possibly predicated on the 3rd key: mentality. The Rangers have 3 starters in their entire lineup who have pitched in the post season before - Cliff, Vladdy, and Molina. Meanwhile, the Rays had pretty much their entire team in the World Series two years ago. Folks, this matters. Everything is different in the playoffs, and the team that holds the trophy at the end is the team that wins the mental game each year. The Rangers must stay within themselves and stay in control of the game. All through the season, this team has been loose, relaxed, and having fun. Will this continue? Or will the playoff pressure tense everyone up and cause mistakes. The answer to that question will most likely determine the series.

I'm fired up, I'm hopeful, I'm excited. This is a new sports venture for me and I'm going to soak up very second of it. Prediction? My sports-brain says Rays in 4. However, these playoff runs don't come around very often so I'm going to be unusually optimistic and say Rangers in 5.

LET'S GO RANGERS! *clap clap clap-clap-clap*