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Rangers AM News: Texas Ready For ALDS In Toronto

By Christian Blood

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The American League West-champion Texas Rangers are in Toronto and ready to begin the ALDS against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

At last, the wait is finally over.

Postseason baseball has returned for the Texas Rangers following a dismal 2014 season that left virtually nobody expecting this club to contend in 2015.

That’s apparently why they play the games – all 162 of them, to be exact.

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This season wasn’t always pretty, but you have to think back a ways to recall or relate to what the Rangers were back in April and prior.

A post-All Star break surge may not entice many to pick Texas to reach their third World Series in six seasons, but for a number of reasons this Rangers team isn’t one that should be counted out.

The Blue Jays are a heavy favorite in this series, which begins at 2:37pm CDT at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Toronto will send staff ace David Price (18-5, 2.45 ERA) to the mound in Game 1, an opponent that the Rangers have had literally no problems with in playoffs past. In fact, when defeating Price in an ALDS, Texas has always reached the World Series – watch this match up closely, because it could very well have a greater meaning over the next week.

The Rangers will send right-hander Yovani Gallardo (13-11, 3.42 ERA), who’s had an impressive season of his own. Perhaps most impressive is this fun factoid:

Texas beat Toronto just twice this season in a total of six attempts. Who do you think the winning pitcher was in both of those contests?

Well, not Cliff Lee.

Gallardo’s success this season against the Blue Jays combined with Price’s historic difficulties with Rangers hitters, several of which are still with the club, would sure seem to give the Rangers more than a solid chance to steal Game 1 and home-field advantage moving forward.

Rangers News From Around The Web

Rangers – Blue Jays Preview (Sports Illustrated)

Two of the top three offenses in Major League Baseball square off in their first meeting in the American League playoffs. Will the time away from the mound for Price equal the critical early-scoring success that’s become a hallmark for the Rangers?

10 Things To Know About Rangers – Blue Jays (Dallas Morning News)

From scheduled first pitches in the ALDS all the way to what’s being served at Globe Life Park during this postseason, catch up on just about everything you need to know about the Rangers and Blue Jays first ever clash in the AL playoffs.

Texas Rangers Interview: Blue Jays Side Of ALDS (Nolan Writin’ – Ric Dickens)

Dickens sits down for a discussion with Shaun Doyle, one of the editor’s at Fansided website Jays Journal. Here we find out both why the Rangers will lose this series as well as why they could pull an astounding upset in the ALDS.

5 Storylines That Could Determine Rangers vs. Blue Jays (Dallas Morning News – Evan Grant)

From several dynamics at Rogers Centre in Toronto to how exactly Texas should attack Price in Game 1, Grant zooms on five key areas of this series that are certain to play some kind of role in this ALDS, including why the Rangers might be better equipped to beat the Blue Jays now than they were before in 2015.

Next: Rangers: With Gallardo Are The Rangers Conceding?

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