Despite regular seasons where the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers reached the century mark in total victories, the Orioles, which won 101 regular season games, and the Dodgers, which won 100 regular season games, are now on the brink of elimination. The weekend results from the League Divisional Series is just the latest example of “it does not matter what happens in the long run, what matters is what has happened lately,” and lately the Texas Rangers have been the better team in the American League Divisional Series against the Baltimore Orioles, and the Arizona Diamondbacks have been the better team against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Rangers winning different ways
Game one between the Rangers and Orioles was completely different than game two. In game one, Texas won with solid pitching as they limited the Orioles to five hits in a 3-2 victory. In game two, the Rangers bats came alive. Designated hitter Mitch Garver of Albuquerque, New Mexico hit a third inning grand slam, which put Texas up 9-2 at the time. They would go on to win 11-8. Texas can sweep the five game series on Tuesday.
Former Blue Jays starring for the Arizona Diamondbacks
After a Saturday press conference where Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins lacked accountability, the results from the National League Divisional Series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers on the weekend made his Canadian Thanksgiving Dinner taste even more sour. On Saturday, the Diamondbacks’s star offensively was catcher Gabriel Moreno of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, who hit a three-run first inning home run off of Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw in an 11-2 Arizona win. On Monday, the Diamondbacks’s star offensively was leftfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. of Sancti Spiritus, Cuba, who hit a solo home run in the sixth inning in a 4-2 Arizona win.
In the offseason, Atkins traded Moreno and Gurriel Jr. to the Arizona Diamondbacks for outfielder Daulton Varsho, in what could go down as the worst trade in Blue Jays history. You could make the argument that Varsho should never have been traded for Gurriel Jr. or Moreno, and inexplicably he was traded for both of them.
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