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This is it folks. Game 163. Win and they’re headed to Cleveland for the Wild Card game. Lose, and the season is over. Today, the Rays send David Price to the mound to face Martin Perez of the Rangers in Arlington at 8:07 PM (ET).
Historically, David Price has not pitched very well against Texas at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington (RBiA). Per Baseball Reference, in the four appearances Price has pitched in RBiA, he has a 10.26 ERA, allowing 19 earned runs in just 16.2 innings pitched. He also has a 2.0 K/BB ratio at RBiA.
As we’ve seen over the past few games, Joe Maddon has had a pretty short leash on his starters when he doesn’t like what he sees from them pitching wise. In this case, I’m not entirely sure who he’d throw out there if Price were to only wind up going four innings, seeing that the Rays bullpen was pretty heavily used in Toronto. Alex Cobb would be the most obvious choice, but if the Rays do wind up winning at Texas, I would rather have Cobb start on Wednesday in Cleveland.
Tweets from the team:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>YEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%231moregame&src=hash">#1moregame</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23rays&src=hash">#rays</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23162strizong&src=hash">#162strizong</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23163strizzzoonnngggg&src=hash">#163strizzzoonnngggg</a></p>— David Price (@DAVIDprice14) <a href="https://twitter.com/DAVIDprice14/statuses/384427393051803648">September 29, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>It's been that way for us all season. Nothing has come easy. Wonderful to be playing tomorrow based on the way the last 2 days went.</p>— Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) <a href="https://twitter.com/RaysJoeMaddon/statuses/384449447897600000">September 29, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>"There's so much opportunity in tomorrow."</p>— Chris Archer (@ChrisArcher42) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisArcher42/statuses/384488387752636416">September 30, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Texas ended <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Rays&src=hash">#Rays</a> seasons in 2010 n 2011...time to turn that around! TB was 3-1 in Arlington in those 2 series losses.</p>— TK (@TampaBayTK) <a href="https://twitter.com/TampaBayTK/statuses/384446595892133888">September 29, 2013</a></blockquote>
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Links:
-Nelson Cruz will be activated today by the Rangers, but there hasn’t been a decision yet as to whether or not he’ll be in the starting lineup.
-Here’s how Angel Hernandez affected the AL Postseason race. This, along with the Indians’ rain-shortened seven inning win two weeks ago, could have changed the Indians’ playoff fate.
-Henderson Alvarez of the Miami Marlins threw a no-hitter yesterday against the Detroit Tigers, with help from a Marlins walkoff in the bottom of the ninth.
-David Schoenfield of ESPN’s The Sweet Spot also examined Price’s history in Arlington.
-Here’s a look at the playoff schedule around MLB.
-Joey Nowack reflects on past tiebreakers in MLB history.
-The folks at The Process Report were on their game, so last night, Tommy Rancel posted a preview of Martin Perez. The skinny? Good changeup, some possibility of a Danks Theory.