They’re led by Corey Seager, who despite being limited to 119 games due to hamstring and thumb injuries put together an MVP-caliber season, hitting. Rotation-mate Jon Gray is also out due to a forearm strain.Īided somewhat by their ballpark, which favors lefty hitters but hurts righties, the Rangers have one of the majors’ most potent offenses.
Injuries will color this series, most notably the absences of the Orioles’ Félix Bautista, who dominated hitters for five months before tearing his UCL, and Max Scherzer, who came over via a deadline trade with the Mets and pitched well before straining his teres major. As they finished with the same record as the Astros but lost the season series, 9–4, they wound up seeded fifth as a wild card but ran circles around the 99-win Rays in the first round, outscoring them 11–1 in two games in front of paltry Tropicana Field crowds. With future Hall of Fame manager Bruce Bochy coming out of retirement, the Rangers, who have been built much more through trades and a whole lot of money spent in free agency, won 90 games but coughed up a 2.5-game AL West lead. Under Brandon Hyde, the largely homegrown Orioles won 101 games, their highest total since 1979, and claimed the AL’s top seed, giving them a first-round bye. For the first time since 2016, the Orioles are in the playoffs, and likewise for the Rangers, as both teams’ lengthy - and very different - rebuilding efforts have finally paid off.
