3 Reasons the Rangers Will Upset the Orioles in ALDS

The Texas Rangers are on top of the world after sweeping the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Wild Card round. There isn't much time to rest, though, the Rangers begin their AL Division Series with the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.

After the Orioles led the AL with 101 regular-season wins, it isn't surprising to see people doubting the Rangers. It's a good thing that opinions don't impact on-field results, though. After all, there's no such thing as a guarantee in sports.

Even FanDuel Sportsbook isn't fully buying into Baltimore's hype, giving both clubs -110 odds to win the upcoming series.

Texas isn't a stranger to proving people wrong and that'll be the case in the ALDS as well. Here are three reasons why the Rangers will upset the Orioles in the playoffs.

3 Reasons Why Rangers Will Upset Orioles in ALDS

1. The Rangers' Offense

One of the key reasons why we got past the Rays was our gifted offense. The Rangers' bats were on fire across both games, resulting in 11 runs and two homers on 21 hits.

Scoring runs wins baseball games and that's something that Texas does better than Baltimore.

While the Orioles averaged 4.98 runs per game during the regular season (No. 7), the Rangers averaged 5.44 (No. 3). That's without mentioning how the O's offensive production dropped to 4.47 runs per game at home, ranking just 17th-best across the Majors.

The truth is that few teams in the Majors can match the Rangers' batting talent. Only the Atlanta Braves (307) and the LA Dodgers (249) recorded more home runs than them (233) this season. The production was spread out, too, as seven different Texas players tallied at least 17 HRs in 2023.

Considering how the Rangers scored 19 runs across three games at Camden Yards back in May, I don't see them struggling to score this series. Texas will do what it does best — record moonshot after moonshot — and Baltimore will struggle to keep up the longer the season goes on.