ARLINGTON, Texas — To understand how improbable the Texas Rangers sweep over the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Division Series was consider a couple things.
The Rangers finished their season on a seven-game road trip, losing four of their final six and forcing them to stay on the road as the second AL Wild Card squad instead of winning the American League West crown and gaining a bye.
The Rangers headed to Tampa Bay to play a Rays team that had the second-best record in the AL.
After winning two to take that best-of-three series, the Rangers then traveled to Baltimore to begin a best-of-five series against the 101-win Orioles, the AL’s No. 1 seed.
The Rangers took the first two and then finally returned to Globe Life Field, where they hadn’t played since Sept. 24.
And the Rangers won again, 7-1, on Tuesday to finalize a three-game sweep of a club that hadn’t been swept in all of 2023 and owns the fourth-longest regular-season streak of not being swept in a series of two games or more in baseball history.
“We had our work cut out going on the road against Tampa and Baltimore. Just shows the toughness with this ballclub and the deal with having to fly to Tampa. Because trust me, they wanted to win one more game (to secure the bye) in the worst way. Didn’t happen,” said Rangers manager Bruce Bochy. “They put it behind them. I said the disappointment will be there. Once they get to Tampa and get that postseason feel, they’ll get over it and be ready to go. And they were.”
Nathan Eovaldi, offense helped Texas Rangers roll
Before this week, there had been 88 instances in which a team has taken a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five playoff series in baseball history. Those teams went 78-10. There had been 32 times in which a club had taken a 2-0 lead on the road in a best-of-five series. Those teams were 29-3.
The last time a team in an 0-2 hole at home rallied to win the next three was in the 2015 ALDS, when the Toronto Blue Jays lost two at Rogers Centre and then won the next three. Their opponent: The Texas Rangers.
That wasn’t going to happen again, not with Nathan Eovaldi pitching the way he has in this postseason. After allowing just one run in 6 2/3 innings against the Rays in the Wild Card series, Eovaldi was even slightly better Tuesday. He gave up one run in seven innings against the Orioles, striking out seven. In both postseason starts, Eovaldi didn’t walk a batter.
“The story is Nate, the job he did out there on the mound to help set the tone,” Bochy said. “But the offense, everybody was doing something to contribute.”
The Rangers scored one run against Orioles right-hander Dean Kremer in the first inning on a Corey Seager homer. They then exploded on Kremer with two outs in the second, scoring five more times. A three-run homer by Adolis García chased Kremer, who retired just five batters in his postseason debut.
And Eovaldi rolled from there. When he left in the seventh, the red-towel-waving, soldout crowd gave him a standing ovation and began chanting “Eeee-vawww-dee.” They then begged for a curtain call. The 33-year-old right-hander, who signed a two-year, $34 million deal with the Rangers this offseason, obliged.
“It was definitely very special. I’ve never had a curtain call or anything like that,” Eovaldi said. “Our fans were bringing it all night long. When I walked out at 6:25 (Tuesday night), they were chanting, ‘Let’s go Rangers.’ I knew it was going to be a really good night for us.”
Facing a familiar foe in ALCS?
Frankly, it’s been a really good week. And now the Rangers must wait to see who their ALCS opponent will be.
It seems likely it will be a familiar foe. The in-state Houston Astros took a 2-1 lead in their series against the Minnesota Twins with a 9-1 victory Tuesday. If the Astros win one more, they’ll return to the ALCS for the seventh consecutive season.
The Rangers haven’t been there since 2011. They hadn’t had a winning season since 2016. And now they are a step away from the World Series.
“It feels amazing. That was our plan from Spring Training on. Everybody’s playing in Spring Training to win the World Series,” Eovaldi said. “But you have to plant that seed for everybody to start to believe in it. I felt like we had the right veteran guys to do that.”
Dan Connolly is an MLB Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.