The Texas Rangers will play the Tampa Bay Rays in game 163 of the season to determine who gets the final Wild Card spot in the playoffs.
A baseball season typically has 162 games. The Rangers and Rays will be the only teams playing an extra game this year, in what is essentially a single game playoff.
What’s funny is that a single game playoff will decide who gets to play in one more single game playoff. Confused?
Last season, MLB added another wild card playoff team, which means five teams from each league are eligible for a shot at the postseason. Obviously, the numbers didn’t quite add up, so the two Wild Card teams play one game to decide who advances to the divisional round of the playoffs.
The Cleveland Indians have locked up one of those Wild Card spots, and now either the Texas Rangers or the Tampa Bay Rays will get the other one. Both ended the season with 91-71 records, which means their seasons aren’t really over.
Game 163 of the MLB season will be played Monday, and then the postseason will truly begin.
Ron Washington, the Texas Rangers manager, said, “Tampa Bay is coming into town, now we have to keep our game elevated and do what we have been doing. We don’t change anything. Just continue to play Texas Rangers baseball and hope to sustain it for a long time to come.”
The Tampa Bay Rays will send ace pitcher David Price to the mound, and he knows how important the game is: “This is hands down my biggest game of this year. It’s night and day bigger than Opening Day. It’s big. This is the moment that I want to be in. I want to be able to relish this moment and just go out there and have fun.”
In Price’s career, he lost all three of his postseason starts against the Rangers.
Do you think the Texas Rangers will beat the Tampa Bay Rays in game 163?
[image via Wikimedia Commons ]