Thursday, October 4, 2012

MLB Wild Card Preview And Predictions: American League


I am throwing a couple other people on this site, for various reasons. Zack Waltz is an avid Chicago fan, and follows sports as much in general as I do. I am personally very weak in the field of the MLB, and there is where Zack Waltz will find an early niche here at Last Second Points. So I am proud to introduce the first piece here not done by yours truly. - CP

Baltimore Orioles @ Texas Rangers (8:37 p.m. on TBS)

     Did anyone see this matchup coming?  The Rangers led the A.L. West for what seemed like an eternity, yet here they are, stuck in a one game playoff with a relatively hot Baltimore team.  This game is going to be very interesting, especially from the perspective of the Texas Rangers, as this could very well be the last game that Josh Hamilton puts on a Rangers uniform.  Not only that, but the Rangers have lost the last two World Series'.  If there was a team in the playoffs that really thought they had something to prove, it would be this team.  The pressure for the Rangers to perform is unbelievably high.
     Then there's the Baltimore Orioles, the young team that almost stole away the A.L. East from the incredibly stacked New York Yankees.  This team isn't messing around, as they finished with an unbelievable record of 93-69, while going above .500 in the last 10 games with a record of 6-4.  For those of you who have no faith in this team making noise in the postseason, start believing.  The only problem possibly hindering Baltimore is they have no ace pitcher.  Wei-Yin Chen will most likely start, and he had a solid 12 wins with a 4.02 ERA.  But it seems like there is usually a pitcher or two in the postseason who makes a name for themselves with huge starts, maybe Chen will end up being that pitcher.  Anything can happen in baseball.  Also this team hasn't been to the playoffs since Cal Ripken Jr. played in 1997, so they are just excited to be in the postseason, which means less pressure.  The pressure for Baltimore will be a fraction of what the Rangers are dealing with.

Prediction:  Orioles: 6 Rangers: 4 The Rangers are getting cold at the worst possible time, going 3-7 in their last 10 before this game.  Oakland had their number at the end of this season, which is going to damage their confidence in this game, even though the Rangers owned the Orioles this season with e 5-2 record. Baltimore is going to want to bounce back from that performance, and that added fuel to their fire will be a boost. It is also easy to see Yu Darvish will crack under the pressure of his first taste of the playoff atmosphere. Hamilton is more than likely to hit one more homer as a Ranger, as it feels like he is going to be singing somewhere else this winter. Adam Jones is also a great candidate for going to go off, not only in this game, but the postseason in general, as he hit .287 with 32 home runs this season. Jones will lead his team to victory, maybe with a little help from Mark Reynolds or even Nate McClouth. To summarize quickly, Baltimore is hot, Texas is not, and it is going to show in this game.

Disagree? Think I'm insane for not picking the reigning A.L. champs? There's a comment section right here.  C'mon, you know you want to.

(Stat Sources: mlb.com, ESPN)

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