American League division series: Rangers vs. Rays

RANGERS VS. RAYS

Game 1: Wednesday, 10:30 a.m. PDT

Texas (Cliff Lee, 12-9, 3.18)

at Tampa Bay (David Price, 19-6, 2.72)

Game 2: Thursday, 11:30 a.m.

Texas (C.J. Wilson, 15-8, 3.35)

at Tampa Bay (James Shields, 13-15, 5.18)

Game 3: Saturday, 2 p.m.

Tampa Bay (Matt Garza, 15-10, 3.91)

at Texas (Colby Lewis, 12-13, 3.72)

Game 4: Sunday, TBA*

Tampa Bay (Wade Davis, 12-10, 4.07)

at Texas (Tommy Hunter, 13-4, 3.73)

Game 5: Oct. 12*

Texas (Cliff Lee)

at Tampa Bay (David Price)

*if necessary

PROJECTED LINEUPS

RANGERS

Elvis Andrus, SS (.265, 0, 35)

Michael Young, 3B (.284, 21, 91)

Josh Hamilton, LF (.359, 32, 100)

Vladimir Guerrero, DH (.300, 29, 115)

Nelson Cruz, RF (.318, 22, 78)

Ian Kinsler, 2B (.286, 9, 45)

Mitch Moreland, 1B (.255, 9, 25)

Bengie Molina, C (.240, 2, 19)

Pedro Borbon, CF (.276, 3, 42)

RAYS

B.J. Upton, CF (.237, 18, 62)

Jason Bartlett, SS (.254, 4, 47)

Carl Crawford, LF (.307, 19, 90)

Evan Longoria, 3B (.294, 22, 104)

Ben Zobrist, RF (.238, 10, 75)

Willy Aybar, DH (.230, 6, 43)

Carlos Pena, 1B (.196, 28, 84)

Kelly Shoppach, C (.203, 5, 17)

Sean Rodriguez, 2B (.251, 9, 40)

KEYS TO THE SERIES

The biggest may be how each team’s star rebounds from injury. Hamilton, among the favorites for American League most valuable player, sat out most of September because of two broken ribs but played three games over the weekend against the Angels and looked good, hitting a home run in one. Longoria has been sidelined since Sept. 23 because of a left quadriceps strain but worked out Monday and will start Game 1. The Rays aren’t on a roll — they were 4-6 against Seattle, Baltimore and Kansas City in their last 10 games — and they aren’t that strong offensively. But they led the league with 173 stolen bases, and Rangers catchers threw out only 19.6% of runners trying to steal, so that could work in Tampa Bay’s favor. The Rays have one of baseball’s best pitching staffs, led by Price and lock-down closer Rafael Soriano. But the Rangers are almost as deep and talented in the rotation and just as strong in the bullpen, with hard-throwing rookie closer Neftali Feliz. Andrus and Young need to get on base and Cruz and Kinzler need to deliver some big hits to force the Rays to pitch to Hamilton and Guerrero. The Rangers, who were a combined 0-12 at New York, Minnesota and Tampa Bay this season, will also have to win on the road.

—Mike DiGiovanna