00:00And this Boston and Texas series has been, I didn't have the Rangers sweeping the Red Sox,
00:06but that's exactly what could happen here tonight.
00:09Sonny Gray on the mound for the Red Sox.
00:13He is, I also didn't have him winning 17 games this year, which is what he's already done.
00:18But there is a clear divide here.
00:21I mean, Texas seems to be hitting another gear and Boston seems to be just, you know,
00:26can we hurry up with the regular season and get to the postseason?
00:31What's funny is when we were doing this a couple of weeks ago, I made the statement that I don't
00:37know.
00:38I said, I don't know who it's going to be.
00:39I remember talking to you about this.
00:41But if any team can roll off like five wins in a row in the American League,
00:45they're going to make the playoffs, right?
00:47So Texas, Joe, they've won four in a row.
00:50So if they win tonight, it puts them over 500.
00:53It puts them at 77 and 76.
00:56That would put them back in first place in the American League West.
01:01It would put them one game behind the White Sox.
01:04And if the White Sox lose tonight to Detroit, it puts them tied for the wild card.
01:09I got news for you.
01:10With less than 10 games to go, Texas probably is going to make the playoffs if they can win tonight
01:15and have a pretty decent, and I'm talking about 500, rest of the season
01:20because their schedule is as follows.
01:23They play Boston.
01:25That's tough.
01:26They play Toronto.
01:27They play the Mets.
01:28They play the Twins.
01:30I would think at the very least, Texas will play 500 baseball the rest of the way.
01:34I don't know that Houston will.
01:36And, you know, honestly, I'm not sure that Cleveland will.
01:38I guess we'll wait to see.
01:39Or even the White Sox will.
01:41Yeah, I think Texas has got a shot.
01:44Now, look, the pitching matchup is on the side of the Red Sox tonight.
01:48I mean, that goes without saying.
01:49Sonny Gray, as you mentioned, has had a really good year.
01:52It's a little bit deceiving.
01:53I think his fielding independent pitching is a little bit worse than this 2.76 ERA.
01:58It's around three.
01:59And, you know, I don't know that Boston wants to throw Sonny Gray in game one of the postseason.
02:03They may end up doing it, depending on the health of Crochet and depending on Tully.
02:08But I think Gray, you know, goes to the two or the three in the playoffs for Boston.
02:13And I probably would throw somebody in the one or the two.
02:17I'm probably going to say wait on this game, see how it plays out.
02:22I'm sort of thinking that maybe an under tonight is in play with these two teams.
02:27Gray, Alexander's done a good job, too.
02:29Probably could go four or five innings in this one.
02:32And that's sort of the way that I see it here at this point.
02:35I mean, Texas is surging right now.
02:37Five wins in a row is on the line here.
02:39And it felt like a week ago.
02:41I mean, think about, Joe, where we were a week ago.
02:43A week ago, it was like, oh, maybe Seattle gets in.
02:45Now they're done.
02:46Maybe Texas is done.
02:47Now they're in.
02:48All it requires is getting hot at the right time.
02:51The Rangers are one of the hottest teams in Major League Baseball.
02:54They've won seven of their last ten.
02:56This would be eight and two in their last ten if they could pull this one off tonight.
03:01Yep.
03:02Impressive stuff.
03:03I don't know if we can.
03:06You know, that's the problem.
03:07But we've seen this before in years past where a team just like Tech.
03:12It feels like that year they went and won it.
03:15Correct.
03:15Correct me if I'm wrong.
03:17They were.
03:17Yep.
03:17Same thing.
03:19They weren't good.
03:20They were so inconsistent.
03:22And they barely made it in as the wild card.
03:25Then they ran the table, which is just hilarious.
03:27And it feels like it's the same thing here.
03:29Do they have the right manager, though?
03:32Let me ask you that.
03:33That's what I was about to say.
03:35You read my mind.
03:36So it feels like Schumacher, who did this with Miami in 2023, is doing the same thing here in 2026.
03:43Because Uvaldi was supposed to start today, but Schumacher said, bleep it, we need to win.
03:49He threw Uvaldi into last night's game.
03:52So that means Alexander goes today.
03:55And then Kumar Rocker, I think, was always going to pitch two or three innings or four innings today.
03:59They don't love Rocker opening.
04:00They like bringing him in for the bulk.
04:02And he's actually been pretty good as the bulk guy.
04:04Yes, Texas is playing like they have to win every single game the rest of the season.
04:09And Schumacher does have experience doing this.
04:11Miami needed to win in 2023 every single game to get in the playoffs.
04:16I think, if I'm not mistaken, the Marlins clinched the playoffs with one game to go.
04:21They clinched in game 161.
04:24So he had them fighting all the way through right to the end.
04:28And look, for Texas to get in, Joe, they're going to have to wait until 161 or 162.
04:32It's going to be the same deal.
04:34It's going to be the same situation.
04:37But, hey, listen, crazier things have happened here.
04:41I just asked one thing of Texas is win the West and win it with a above 500 records.
04:48The only thing I am asking.
04:50Maybe.
04:51Oh, you mean maybe.
04:54Oh, that's just that's not comforting here.
04:56Houston has also got a game.
04:59One other thing.
05:01One other thing, too.
05:03I mean, I know the Yankees lost yesterday.
05:05But with the Red Sox losing like crazy lately, Boston's going to New York for the wild card.
05:10That's it.
05:10I mean, we're locked in.
05:11Absolutely.
05:12That's happening.
05:13It's in the Yankee Stadium in two weeks.
05:15Done deal.
05:16Two weeks from today.
05:16Yep.
05:16Yep.
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