Jordan Montgomery Was Great, The Rays Defense Was Sloppy, And The Texas Rangers Won Their First Playoff Game In 8 Years

Yeah, that's some big boy shit. I've liked Jordan Montgomery this year. I think that the guy has flown completely under the radar. The Rangers' pitching staff is very thin. They've had multiple injuries, and their bullpen is awful. They needed a great outing from Montgomery today, and that's exactly what he gave them.

Pitching sets the tone in October. Every team has an ace, and every team that gets knocked out in the postseason usually has that ace get beaten up at some point. If your number one can hold his own for four or five starts, you're usually looking at a team that can make a deep run through October. I still have my question marks about the rest of the Rangers' pitching staff, but This organization hasn't won a playoff game since 2015, so this has to feel pretty damn good. 

As amazing as Montgomery was, I have to say, that was not a good showing by Tampa Bay. They were sloppy as shit in the field, and while Tyler Glasnow did the best he could pitch out of some trouble, his command was pretty subpar, as he walked five hitters. Everything about this game felt weird to me. Tropicana was dead. It was the middle of the afternoon. Perhaps the Rays didn't get the memo that the playoffs started. One guy who did get the memo was Jordan Montgomery. 

I'm not reinventing the wheel by saying that a team puts themselves behind the eight ball when they fall behind 1-0 in a series, but this is one of those instances where this thing is far from over. Once you get past Montgomery, every pitching matchup will favor the Tampa Bay Rays. You know that Kevin Cash's gonna go all out to survive tomorrow. Tampa has to throw this one in the trash. You don't get any redos in October, but I feel like Tampa wishes they could have this one back. This was a lame performance on their part but a brilliant outing by Montgomery.