One hundred sixty-two regular season games were not enough to settle the race for the second American League wild card.
The Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers will face off tonight in game 163 to determine who will get the last spot in the American League playoffs.
Rays starting pitcher David Price has struggled in his career against the Texas Rangers, including three losses in 2010 and 2011 postseasons.
Rays season ticket holder Jim Schnur is looking for some unsung heroes to step up and get their first taste of the MLB postseason.
“I think that this is going to be a great game to really see, not only the stars that we already have on the team, but some of the stars such as Wil Myers who has come up through the ranks, you know for David Dejesus and others who haven't enjoyed the postseason.” Schnur said. “Hopefully, they'll have an opportunity and hopefully we will celebrate after the game tonight.”
Mark Ferguson, who owns Ferg's Sports Bar in St. Petersburg, likes the new wild card format - but thinks it could be improved. “It's great for business, it took them a long time for them to add one team to the mix, I believe that the one game playoff should be in two out of three, you know, one game is really hectic.” Ferguson said. “But if you played two out of three to move on, it would be better for everybody. But right now, we’ll take one game at time.”
The Rays will play the Rangers tonight in Arlington, first pitch is at 8:07, and the pitching matchup the Rays' David Price versus the Martin Perez of the Rangers. The winner will go to Cleveland on Wednesday to play the Indians in a one-game wild card playoff.
