Relentless Texas Rangers Advance, Houston Astros Answer Back - ALDS Game 3 Recap
Baltimore Orioles are swept, and the Minnesota Twins are now on the brink...
I love baseball.
I just love this sport and how it makes you feel in the most random of ways.
You may disagree but, for me at least, baseball gives me the most magical feeling that the other sports just don’t.
There’s something different about this beautiful, unpredictable, intricate, history-rich, breathtaking game that I can’t get enough of.
And I’m beyond lucky to be able to write about it and cover it for a living.
How lucky am I?!
I certainly felt all these things throughout the course of Tuesday night. It just struck me how this game always keeps you on your toes.
The Baltimore Orioles, an absolute juggernaut of a 101-win team during the regular season, were swept by the Texas Rangers, who are now 5-0 in the postseason despite being down two Cy Young pitchers.
We all thought that the Minnesota Twins had all the momentum in their series against Houston, only for the Astros to go striding into Target Field and laying an absolute beat down.
Just when you think you’ve got this wonderful game figured out, it finds new ways to surprise you all over again.
Let’s dive into the action from the ALDS on Tuesday night…
ALDS GAME 3 RECAPS
Texas Rangers (3-0) 7-1 Baltimore Orioles (0-3) - Texas Advances To The ALCS
I don’t know what is more surprising; the fact the 101-win Baltimore Orioles got swept or the fact that I didn’t realize just how good the Texas Rangers actually were.
Probably the latter.
Look, this is where my favorite phrase ‘two things can be right at the same time’ comes in. The Orioles had an outstanding regular season, and they have put concrete building blocks in place for a bright future. Getting swept in the ALDS doesn’t change that. Even if it was the first time they had been swept in a year.
Was this a major letdown by the O’s? Of course. Many people were high on them, including yours truly who had Baltimore reaching the World Series. Maybe next year…
But, as I’ve said time and time and time again, postseason baseball is in a different stratosphere to regular season baseball. It just is, and few things can prepare you for the rapid and sudden shift in intensity and pressure.
Baltimore just wasn’t ready, and that’s okay. We learn the most in times of failure, as opposed to when we are winning and succeeding. Therefore, this talent-laden Orioles team with its elite core of high-end young talent will be better for their first October experience.
They will be better prepared, better equipped, and more hungry the next time an opportunity like this presents itself. And it will. And soon. The Orioles are going to be a dominant force in the American League for years to come, but this year was just one year too soon. They need to figure out their starting rotation, and their young talent, like Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and Grayson Rodriguez, needed to experience growing pains like this in order to help further push along their maturation process.
They will be back.
As for the Texas Rangers, their time is now.
It really is remarkable what this team is doing right now. Like, really, really remarkable.
Allow me to explain. The Rangers are down two aces in Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer, who have combined to win a total of five Cy Young Awards. They are also without Jon Gray, who is currently on the IL with a forearm strain.
Despite being without a large chunk of their starting rotation, the Rangers are 5-0 in the playoffs with four of those wins coming on the road. Incredible. Oh, and they’ve outscored opponents 32-12 in that span too.
The result? Clinching a first trip to the ALCS since 2011.
What a year it has been in Arlington.
You can’t win without good starting pitching in the postseason, yet the Rangers are thanks to others stepping up. Jordan Montgomery delivered in Game 1, Andrew Heaney was solid in Game 2, and then the trusted veteran Nate Eovaldi pitched a gem in Game 3, allowing just one earned run on five hits while walking none and striking out seven.
What really has powered this run, however, is a great offense that is absolutely relentless. Corey Seager, who made postseason history in Game 2 with five walks - the most walks in a single playoff game in MLB history - punished Baltimore starter Dean Kremer by crushing a solo home run to right center field in the bottom of the first. Seager slugged 33 homers during the regular season, and he’s come up in big spots in the playoffs.
Mitch Garver, who hit a grand slam in Game 2, came through again in Game 3, hitting a two-run single that made it a 3-0 game in the second inning, before Adolis Garcia called game with a towering, soul-crushing three-run homer that was an absolute no-doubter as soon as it left the bat. With one brutal swing of the bat, Garcia had all but ended Baltimore’s postseason hopes and dreams.
Nathaniel Lowe added on with a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth to ice the game, while highlighting once again that this is a Texas lineup that is deep and stacked. One-through-nine this is a lineup that can wreak an absurd amount of damage on any given night.
It has been breathtaking to see how easy the Rangers have slugged their way through the Wild Card Series and now the American League Division Series. They have made it look so easy, taking down two elite regular season teams in the Rays and the Orioles without so much as breaking a sweat. And, in doing so, Texas has now put the entire baseball world on alert. This team is for real, and it is a team that has all the ingredients needed to win two more rounds and lift the greatest prize in baseball.
With the vastly experienced Bruce Bochy in the dugout, a lineup that can pound your face in, a bullpen that isn’t flashy but gets the job done, and a stubborn rotation that looks set to get back both Scherzer and Gray for the ALCS, anything is possible for the Texas Rangers.
They may have just seized the moniker as the most dangerous team in baseball right now.
Two quick notes before I move on…
The AL East has been brutal this postseason. It is a combined 0-for 8:
Toronto Blue Jays - 0-for-3
Tampa Bay Rays - 0-for-2
Baltimore Orioles - 0-for-3
Yikes.
Texas manager Bruce Bochy is now just one more series victory away from becoming only the seventh manager in MLB history to reach a LCS with three different franchises. No manager has won won an LCS with three franchises. At this point, you wouldn’t bet against Bochy becoming the first…
Houston Astros (2-1) 9-1 Minnesota Twins (1-2)
Here is an important life lesson for you…
Never, no matter what, count out the Houston Astros or bet against them.
They will come right back and bite you firmly in the butt. Hard.
I was one of many who felt the Minnesota Twins had all the momentum after a statement-making Game 2 win at Minute Maid Park in Houston. They had stole home-field advantage, they had the better pitching matchups and, oh, they also had Mr. October himself in Carlos Correa who does nothing but magical things this time of year.
It wasn’t like the Astros were cooked, but they were against the ropes and had a tall mountain to climb.
How stupid do I look right now?
Because, let’s be honest, the Houston Astros are built for October and all they do this time of year is win and crush other teams to a fine powder while making it look all so easy.
They are the perfect postseason team in many ways.
So, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise, then, that the Astros heard all the noise, used that as rocket fuel and then went into Minnesota and laid an absolute brutal and relentless beatdown on the Twins.
Again, this is what they do. This is who they are.
You piss off the Astros, well, you better be prepared for the almighty smack on the mouth you will no doubt get in the next game.
That’s exactly what happened in Game 3.
Houston came out swinging from the first pitch, absolutely determined to avenge its loss in Game 2, or die trying. José Abreu, who has really come alive in the playoffs, hit a three-run moonshot after Kyle Tucker had got the Astros on the board with an RBI-single. Alex Bregman, who knows a thing or two about navigating the grueling grind of October baseball, hit a homer of his own, and Yordan Alvarez - may as well just call him the King of hitting dingers in October right now - and Abreu finished off the rout with two more long balls. By the way, both of Abreu’s homers were absolute monsters. His first one left the bat at 109.7 mph and travelled 442 ft. Abreu’s second bomb was absolutely crushed too, this one going to the upper deck with an 110.2 mph exit velocity while traveling 440 ft.
Minnesota starter Sonny Gray, who was locked in during the Wild Card Round, just didn’t have his stuff in Game 3 and he was punished. He got shelled for five runs - four earned - on eight eights and two home runs in four innings. Yikes. On the other side, the Astros got an absolute gem from Cristian Javier, who went five scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and five walks while striking out nine. Javier and the Astros were locked in, Gray and the Twins were not, and that was ultimately the difference.
And, just like that, the Astros are one win away from reaching the ALCS for a seventh consecutive year. Yes, you read that right, Houston has made it to the final four SEVEN YEARS IN A FREAKING ROW. That should tell you everything you need to know about this team. And, after what they did in Game 3, I think it would be wise to bet on them, rather than against them, in Game 4.
These are the same Houston Astros who own October, and always have, after all.
Getting You Set For Wednesday
We have three games to look forward to tonight, and we could see two more teams advance to the Championship Series…
Atlanta Braves (1-1) At Philadelphia Phillies (1-1) - 5:07 P.M. ET (TBS)
RHP Bryce Elder, Atlanta (12-4, 3.66 ERA) - RHP Aaron Nola, Philadelphia (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Will the Phillies recover from a heartbreaking, improbable Game 2 loss to bounce back? Or will the Braves ride the momentum from their heroics to seize control of this series? Only time will tell but it will be interesting to see how Philadelphia responds after that gut-punch of an ending to Game 2. In truth, the Phillies have dominated the Braves for the most part in this series and they will need to keep being aggressive. The wild card will be Aaron Nola. He was lights out in the Wild Card Series, coming off a rough regular season. If the Phillies get Wild Card Nola, as opposed to regular season Nola, then the odds of them erasing what happened on Monday should be high. For Atlanta, maybe it was only a matter of time until they broke through and took care of business given how elite this team is. One thing I know for sure is that Game 3 should be an absolute classic.
Houston Astros (2-1) At Minnesota Twins (1-2) - 7:07 P.M. ET (FS1)
RHP José Urquidy, Houston (3-3, 5.29 ERA) - RHP Joe Ryan, Minnesota (11-10, 4.51, ERA)
This pitching matchup seems like a win for the Twins, and they will need to jump on José Urquidy early and often, just as they did to Framber Valdez in Game 2. But, honestly, I think this game will come down to the Astros, and the Astros only. They are one win away from reaching yet another ALCS, and I really don’t think there is any stopping this lineup. They can bash your face in for fun and Yordan Alvarez, who has four homers already this postseason, will punish any little mistake. I can’t rule out that Carlos Correa won’t have a typical Mr. October-like game, but I just think this Houston team is destined to move on and they could be the second team to advance to the Championship Series.
LA Dodgers (0-2) At Arizona Diamondbacks (2-0) - 9:07 P.M. ET (TBS)
RHP Lance Lynn, LA (13-11, 5.73 ERA) - RHP Brandon Pfaadt, Arizona (0-0, 10.13 ERA)
Are we really about to witness the mighty LA Dodgers get swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks? Is another 100-win season about to be launched in the garbage? It is very, very possible. I don’t trust Lance Lynn in a big spot - I just don’t - and this Arizona offense has been both red-hot and efficient in this series. It would not surprise me at all if the D-Backs got to Lynn early and chased him out of the game. However, the key to avoiding a sweep, at least in my opinion, will be this offense actually waking up and doing something. The Dodgers have put up a meager and unacceptable .159/.254/.254 batting line while scoring a total of just four runs. Mookie Betts, who put together an MVP season for the ages in 2023, needs to be better. He’s 0-for-7 in this series. The same goes for Freddie Freeman, who is 1-for-6, and Max Muncy, who is 1-for-7. But Betts is the tone-setter for this entire team, and he needs to have a monster game on Wednesday if the Dodgers are to have any chance of staving off elimination. If he fails to deliver again, it is going to be a hell of a long offseason for a team that should be going a lot deeper in October. For the D-Backs, they haven’t clinched a series at home since Game 7 of the 2001 World Series - or the Luis Gonzalez game - and Corbin Carroll was just 13 months old at the time. He will be looking to lead the way on what could be a special, special night at Chase Field.
Enjoy tonight’s mouthwatering slate of three games!
By the way, we won’t have three games all on the same day again until spring training, so we need to cherish tonight as much as we can.
I’ll see you on Thursday, where we could be talking about two more teams being eliminated…
