Rangers Sweep Orioles to Advance to ALCS

Sometimes its not how much you win, it’s when you win.

The Texas Rangers were in 1st place in the American League West for much of the season, but a 6-17 stretch between August 13th and September 8th had them battling the Houston Astros down the stretch for the division crown. A loss to the Seattle Mariners on the last day of the season put the Rangers at 90-72; with a victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the season finale, the Astros also finished 90-72. But Houston beat Texas 9-4 in games between the two, and the Astros won the West while the Rangers were a Wild Card based on that tiebreaker.

The Baltimore Orioles played pretty well over the course of the season. The Tampa Bay Rays started red hot, but Baltimore eventually caught up and passed the Rays, finishing two games in front of them in the American League East, and with the best record in the A.L. at 101-61. The Orioles had a bye in the Wild Card round, while the Rangers traveled to Tampa Bay. Texas won that series with a 2-0 sweep, and advanced to play the Orioles in Baltimore in the best of five Division Series.

The Rangers put the Orioles in damage control right away, winning 3-2 in Game 1 and 11-8 in Game 2. The series then shifted to Arlington, Texas for Game 3 on October 10th. The Rangers put this one away early, teeing off on Baltimore starter Dean Kremer for six runs in 1 2/3 innings. Kremer was one of a big three of starters for Baltimore during the regular season with a 13-5 record and a 4.12 ERA, but this was his shortest and worst outing of the season. The Baltimore bullpen allowed just one run and four hits the rest of the way, but the Orioles offense could only score one run as Texas cruised to a 7-1 victory and a series sweep. The Rangers advanced to the American League Championship series for the first time since 2011. They will play the winner of the Minnesota Twins-Houston Astros series.