Rangers Ready to Field Different Playoff Attitude

Baseball is gearing up for a sizzling September. Two division races--the Central and East--are up for grabs in the National League, with both the wild card and October’s home-field advantage hanging in the balance. The New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers have firm holds on the American League’s division races, but three other teams--the Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics and Toronto Blue Jays--are battling for the wild card, and the contest among New York, Cleveland and Texas for best record and home-field advantage in the playoffs is potentially pivotal.

In that regard, the Rangers dropped a calling card in Cleveland during a four-game series that ended Thursday, outscoring the Indians, 34-18, while winning three of the games. New Texas owner Tom Hicks is exhorting his team to secure the best record and home-field advantage in an effort to avoid the Yankees, who have eliminated the Rangers in the first playoff round in two of the last three years and hold a 21-10 regular-season advantage over the Rangers since the start of the 1997 season.

“Hopefully, we can be the host team [in the first round] and draw Cleveland, Boston or Toronto. I’d be disappointed if we didn’t win those series,” Hicks said, providing bulletin-board fodder. “If we had to play the Yankees on the road it would be tough, but I just don’t see Cleveland being better than us.”

Texas, of course, could end up with the league’s best record and still not draw the wild card as a first-round opponent, if the A’s are the wild card, also out of the West Division. Similarly, the Yankees could have the best record and would not face either Boston or Toronto if it were a wild card.

The Rangers are 26-16 against Cleveland since the start of the 1996 season and would open the playoffs against the Indians if the Yankees had the best overall record and Oakland were the wild card.

“I’d like to play Pulaski in the first round of the playoffs,” Texas Manager Johnny Oates said, referring to the Rangers’ rookie-level affiliate. “You are still going to have to beat two teams to get to the World Series, and getting to the World Series is our goal. If we get to the playoffs, I’ll take a chance against whoever shows up.”

Meanwhile, the series against Texas illuminated some ongoing concerns for Cleveland: the suspect nature of the rotation; the impact of injuries to Travis Fryman and Sandy Alomar Jr. on the offense, and an inability to beat the best teams. The Indians dominate a weak division and hammer the less fortunate, but they were 11-22 last year against New York, Texas and Boston, the three other playoff teams, and are 8-14 against those teams this year.

“That stuff is for you guys,” Cleveland Manager Mike Hargrove said of the media. “Last year Boston beat our socks off in the regular season, but then we beat them in the division series. Does it worry me that we don’t play Texas better? Yeah, it worries me, but I’ll worry about the postseason when we get to the postseason.”

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Cleveland’s immediate worry was a weekend series against the Seattle Mariners, who have been creeping into wild-card contention, 6 1/2 games behind the Red Sox before the Indians’ series at Safeco Field. The Mariners believe the new facility, while taking away some power, has made them a better overall team, forcing them to execute and do the little things required to win close games.

Jay Buhner said he sensed a growing confidence, and Alex Rodriguez, referring to the high-scoring games at the Kingdome, put it this way:

“Across the street, it was like slow-pitch softball. Now, each little thing we do means so much more, so our focus is sharper. This is baseball. This is the game we grew up with and love to play.”