With the Texas Rangers now having seven straight wins heading into the 2023 playoffs and an American League Championship Series on the way to Globe Life Field in Arlington, it’s a wonder if anyone can stop the Texas Rangers.
There have been a few times in history where teams have gotten off to a great start in the playoffs. However, these winning streaks did not always equate to championships.
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The Kansas City Royals, for example, lost the 2014 World Series after winning their first eight games. The Atlanta Braves fared even worse in 2020, being eliminated from the National League Championship Series despite seven straight wins.
However, there are not only unfortunate examples. The Astros won the last World Series after winning seven games early in the series. The same goes for the Cincinnati Reds, the “Big Red Machine,” who won the championship in 1976 after seven straight wins.
Different game plans
The Rangers players want to keep their eyes on the goal despite the impressive run of success they are currently enjoying.
“We’re just riding the wave,” pitcher Nathan Eovaldi said at a news conference Tuesday. We have the wind at our backs. It doesn’t matter if we’re at home or on the road, we’re in the playoffs and that’s all that matters to us. We play good baseball. We want to continue our momentum.”
On the reigning World Series champions’ side, players remain confident given the games presented in Texas, even if we feel the soup is hot.
“The good thing is we played better away from home and at Globe Life Field,” outfielder Chas McCormick said at the press scrum. We have to win two of the three games there. These are games that have no future for us. We played with urgency, but we need to produce more. We didn’t take advantage of our chance when we were able to take the lead.”
After defeating the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles fairly easily in the first two rounds, the Rangers beat the Astros 2 to 0. On Monday, still at Minute Maid Park, they withstood their rivals’ comeback and won by 5 to 4.
The third meeting will be broadcast on TVA Sports on Wednesday starting at 8 p.m. Max Scherzer will be the Rangers’ starting pitcher, while Cristian Javier will start the Astros’ game.