A quick look at Game 1 of the ALDS between the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays.
• The Rays will send 25-year-old David Price to the mound in Game 1 to face the Rangers. The young lefthander has never made a postseason start, although he appeared in five playoff games back in 2008.
FROM ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: In the 2009 postseason, four pitchers started Game 1 of a series at age 25 years or younger: Ubaldo Jimenez (Colorado Rockies, NLDS), Jon Lester (Boston Red Sox, ALDS), Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles Dodgers, NLCS), and Cole Hamels (Philadelphia Phillies, NLCS). Hamels and the Phillies were the only of those four teams who came out victorious in Game 1 of their series.
• Rangers Game 1 starter Cliff Lee pitched in the postseason for the first time last year with the Phillies, and went 4-0 in five starts with a 1.56 ERA, two complete games and a 5.5 K/BB ratio (33/6).
However, against the Rays this season, Lee was 0-3 in three starts with an ERA of 4.56.
Rangers On The Road This Season
Against AL Playoff Teams
• Sadly for the Rangers, they’ll be starting this series on the road, and they’ve had no success this season against the other AL playoff teams when playing in their ballparks. In fact, Texas is the only American League team still playing that has a losing record on the road, and they haven’t had a winning road record since 2006.
• The Rangers have lost their last nine LDS games and are the only major league franchise to have never won a postseason series.
