Game 163 does not happen often, but 2013 will have the pleasure of seeing a one-game playoff. Here is the TV schedule for the Tampa Bay Rays vs. Texas Rangers as both teams will fight for the second and final spot in the A.L. Wild Card. We bring you channel and game time info.
Channel: TBS
Game Time: 8:07 p.m. ET
(MY PREDICTIONS FOR THIS GAME)
Fans could probably see this coming a mile away. Both teams were playing well down the stretch, but only one will have access to the 2013 A.L. Wild Card Game. The only way to decide this is with a tiebreak as the Rays and Rangers finished 91-71 in the season.
The Rangers needed to win every game last week and that is exactly what they did. They were lucky enough to face the Houston Astros and they took three straight games from them. Then they saw the Los Angeles Angeles come to town and they swept a four-game series. They wound up winning eight of their last 10, which was good enough to keep them in the fight.
The Rays could not close the door in 2013. Things started out well for them, taking three straight in an emotional series at Yankee Stadium. They were coming off a sweep against the Baltimore Orioles and that momentum appeared to have carried over as they swept the Yankees, finishing things up with a 4-0 victory in Mariano Rivera's last appearance in the Bronx. However, despite crushing their division rival, who had been making a run in the A.L. Wild Card, it was the non-contenders, the Toronto Blue Jays, who stung the Rays over the weekend.
Toronto took two out of three from the Rays, winning the series and forcing the Rays to a one-game playoff. The Rays were able to salvage the final game of the season as the Cleveland Indians took the A.L. Wild Card and the Rangers won their ball game.
Winner takes all in this affair. Though the purpose of the A.L. Wild Card Game was to create a sudden-death thrill, we will have the honor of seeing three one-game playoffs as only one team, either the Rays or the Rangers will have a chance to take the second place of the A.L. Wild Card.
The winner will face the Cleveland Indians.