MLB postseason: Tampa Bay Rays announce lineup for ALDS game five

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It’s an adage oft cited by those who think change is scary, but also those who know when a good thing is works, why mess with it?

For the Rays, who announced their lineup for ALDS game five against the Houston Astros on Thursday afternoon, they seem ready to stick to a tried and true formula, with one interesting shift.

The batting order includes a few positional shuffles, and also the inclusion of Eric Sogard at second base instead of Brandon Lowe.

Travis d’Arnaud has moved up in the batting order, having previously hit at sixth for game four, and Avisail Garcia is now hitting sixth, when he had hit fourth in game four. d’Arnaud has two hits, a run, and two RBIs so far in the ALDS, and Garcia has five hits, three runs, and an RBI.

Sogard has appeared in this series once before, and got an RBI on his only hit, so perhaps the Rays are hoping that luck has held. Brandon Lowe has had a solo home run in the series, but he also took a ball off his shin in game four. While there’s been no indication he has seriously injured himself, the team might be hoping they can rest him so he’ll be in top form for a weekend ALCS.

The starting pitcher for the Rays will be Tyler Glasnow. Glasnow threw 76 pitches over 4.1 innings in game one of the ALDS, and though the Rays lost, he looked pretty good overall. The team will be hoping to get as much distance out of him as they can, and can stretch him out more than 76 pitches if need be, but they’ll also have their bullpen on hand, including Blake Snell and Charlie Morton if need be.

Kevin Cash won’t take risks leaving Glasnow out too long if he looks uneasy on the mound.

Game five of the ALDS airs tonight at 7:07PM ET.