With Texas up 2-0 on Houston in the ALCS, Ben Verlander examines why both fan bases have reason for optimism as the series heads to Arlington.
There are reasons why Monday might have been a knockout punch from Texas — but also reasons for hope with Houston.First, Texas now goes up 2-0 in the series, increasing its chances of winning to 84%, based on historical trends. But the statistic that should make Rangers fans feel especially good is that throughout the Astros' current dynastic run of seven straight ALCS appearances and two World Series titles, they have never won a series in which they have trailed by at least two games.
Another core attribute of these Rangers are how streaky they are. In the regular season, they were the only team to lose eight games in a rowwin eight games in a row. Clearly, they are on a massive heater right now, with a perfect 7-0 record thus far in the postseason. That's tied for the second-longest playoff-opening win streak in baseball history. The Rangers can tie the 2014 Kansas City Royals for the top spot Wednesday night in Game 3 .
The last reason why the Rangers might have built an insurmountable lead in this series is because of how multifaceted they are. In Sunday's Game 1,On the other hand, if any Houston Astros team over their entire seven-year dynasty has the ability to come back from being down 2-0 in a series, it's this one. The Astros are just as comfortable on the road as the Rangers are at home. Houston was by far the best road team in baseball this year by run differential.
'Evo beared down' — Rangers' Jonah Heim on Nathan Eovaldi making adjustments to defeat Astros in Game 2 of the ALCS, who will take the ball Wednesday for the first time this postseason. This cuts both ways — Scherzer not only has experience in the playoffs, he has experience beating the Astros in the playoffs from his time with thein the 2019 World Series. Getting him back is a huge boost for the Rangers' undermanned starting rotation.
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