The Cleveland Guardians control their own playoff destiny — just BEAT THE RANGERS

The Cleveland Guardians control their own playoff destiny — just BEAT THE RANGERS

Um, all right, we’re ready to pivot to baseball. Disappointing loss last night for the guards, their first and it felt like forever. Um, and as much momentum as they had, it just was squelched last night because now you’re in a tie even though the guardians have the tiebreaker. They get the Rangers this weekend. The Tigers have to go to Boston to play the Red Sox, who are very much in a playoff fight. What happens at the end of this weekend? What what are we saying? I think the Guardians are going to sweep. Well, I think if they clinch Saturday they’ll sit everybody Sunday, but they’ll win 2 out of 3 at least, and they will win the division, in my opinion. I don’t think the momentum is gone just because of one loss, you know, the last time the Guardians lost back. Back games was September 1st and 2nd against the Red Sox. They have not lost back to back games since. — That
— was their only, except for the last game of the twins series, I think it was their only loss, right? And they’ve won 17 of 20. There’s still plenty of momentum here even with the loss. This team is playing with extreme confidence and belief that they could, they could win no matter what is going on in this game. The Rangers are done. Three of their best hitters are gone for the year. Their best their best pitcher. The two best pitchers, Eovaldi and, and DeGrom are either hurt or done pitching for the year. Uh, this is, there, there’s no excuse. The Guardians will take a little bit he’s pitched because he can be a very, very good, but Merry Kelly hasn’t been good for them. He’s pitching tomorrow and Sunday is supposed to be Patrick Corbin. He’s been awful, awful. So I’m with you. I think they win the division, but they better. Win tonight. They gotta win tonight. Yes, if you, if you kick this one away tonight, now the start they’ve been playing with no pressure like they’ve been playing with house money for the last 3 weeks on this incredible tear that they’ve been on, but now it’s expected of you. Now they’re expected to close out. So if, if you lose out of the favorites to win the division, yeah, if you lose this game tonight, they’re gonna start to feel — a little bit of pressure from
— Detroit wins — absolutely
— you gotta take care of business tonight, finish your breakfast, um, get it done. Uh, you don’t wanna waste the effort that you put into, you know, getting 1718, 18 out of 21, 22 games. Don’t waste that. Come in, take care of business like you said. The Rangers are finished. They, uh, are, are ready to go on spring break on vacation to get out of, uh, out of the state for the, for the winter. Go ahead and give them that early, uh, uh, ticket boo, — by
— the way, can we, can you bring up the graphic of the pitching match up there again, Mike, of the two pitchers? — You want the 3 pitchers or
— tonight’s picture? No, just tonight because Slade Cicone looks like, like he’s ready to kill somebody. Good. I hope he has the same when he takes them out tonight. He’s like, you know, he pitches with great intensity, and I love that. — I
— love looks like a 72 year old’s dating his 24-year-old daughter. Go back and watch the YouTube shows. One of my favorite sayings is, it ain’t no fun when the rabbit’s got the gun because it really says everything. Like when you’re the hunter, it’s fun. But when all of a sudden. You’re the hunted. The pressure starts to just build with every single pitch, every inning, every game. That’s why and right now we’re the hunted. That’s why, that’s why we need the hosey game. This is where your best players come in. We got, we, we’re gonna find out what they’re made of tonight because there’s no. not to win the division. He’s they have the tiebreaker and the easier opponent, and they’re at home. — There’s no reason for them
— not to do it. This is what I said before the Tiger series. I said this upstairs on Channel 3. I said, here’s what we’re gonna learn over the next 6 games. We’re not gonna learn the better baseball team. We’re gonna learn which team is more built for this, and that’s it. And in the now in the micro in the macro from 30,000 ft, the answer to that has been the guardians. We were 15.5 games out in July. We were 12 games out less than a month ago, 11 a month ago. And what happened was the Guardians raised their game in that moment and the Tigers folded their tent. But now we get to see what happens in the micro where even Steven with 3 games each to go. We are the hunted because we have the tiebreaker. The Tigers, and last night they were the, they, they were the hunters last night and they came through. So what happens, um, it’s gonna be great drama to watch it. I can’t wait. I, I, I don’t wanna make this is gonna sound like, well, I don’t care what happens after this. Uh, obviously I do. I didn’t expect this team would contend for a World Series. Could they win it? Yes, they can, especially with the pitching that they’ve had the last month. But there’s something to be said for just enjoying the moment. Like this is, we didn’t think we’d get a September like this. They’ve given us an incredible month of baseball. I don’t want this ride to end, but this has been a lot of fun and it’s house money. Yeah, you get in there, you know, I’m gonna feel like they they should win the first round if they’re the, if they win the division. But after that, beating Seattle or Toronto or the Yankees, I mean, that’s, you know what I love, that’s a tall t. 30 years ago, the Indians beat the Mariners in the ALCS to go to the World Series. They set a record. Wouldn’t it be fun if history repeated itself? Well, 30 years ago, 30 years ago the Mariners and the Mariners. No it wasn’t 114 wins. — Mariners was a low at that
— time. Oh my God, Johnson, by the way, the last time the Mariners won the West was 2001 when they set that record, jeez.

Texas Rangers (80-79, third in the AL West) vs. Cleveland Guardians (86-73, first in the AL Central)

Cleveland; Friday, 7:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Rangers: Jack Leiter (9-10, 3.92 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 138 strikeouts); Guardians: Slade Cecconi (7-6, 4.15 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 106 strikeouts)

Guardians -149, Rangers +124; over/under is 7 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Texas Rangers will aim to end their four-game road skid in a matchup against the Cleveland Guardians.

Cleveland has an 86-73 record overall and a 43-35 record in home games. The Guardians have gone 28-15 in games when they hit at least two home runs.

Texas is 32-46 in road games and 80-79 overall. Rangers pitchers have a collective 3.46 ERA, which leads the AL.

Friday’s game is the fourth meeting between these teams this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jose Ramirez has 34 doubles, three triples, 30 home runs and 85 RBI for the Guardians. Bo Naylor is 12 for 33 with three doubles, three home runs and 13 RBI over the past 10 games.

Josh Smith has 23 doubles, two triples and 10 home runs while hitting .251 for the Rangers. Jake Burger is 5 for 34 with two home runs over the last 10 games. | https://www.espn.com/mlb/preview/_/gameId/401697300

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