Monday, October 4, 2010

Ranges vs. Ray

Catcher: Bengie Molina vs. John Jaso. Advantage: Rangers. I was originally going to say that Jaso has the advantage but the Rays like to run, and Molina can stop the running game.
First Base: Jorge Cantu/Mitch Moreland vs. Carlos Pena. Advantage: Rays. Pena had a pretty terrible year but the Rangers don't provide much more.
Second Base: Ian Kinsler vs. Sean Rodriguez/Ried Brignac. Advantage: Rangers. A down year for Kinsler but there is a reason why the Rays platoon there.
Third Base: Michael Young vs. Evan Longoria. Advantage: Rays. Michael Young is one of my favorite players in the game, but Longoria is one of the best.
Short Stop: Elvis Andrus vs. Jason Bartlett. Advantage: Rangers. Both guys had down years, but Andrus is 21 and actually stole bases while Bartlett just screwed over my fantasy team.
Left Field: Josh Hamilton vs. Carl Crawford. Advantage: Rangers. Crawford is damn good, but Hamilton will probably be the AL MVP
Center Field: Julio Borbon vs. BJ Upton. Advantage: Rays. Neither hit the ball well but Upton learned to walk and steals more bases and hits for more power.
Right Field: Nelson Cruz vs. Ben Zobrist. Advantage: Rangers. Zobrist struggled and Cruz had a great year.
Designated Hitter: Vlad Guerrero vs. Rays DH. Advantage: Rangers. Rays just platoon over there, they have a lot of guys to work in...none of which are close to Vlad Guerrero
Starting Pitching. Advantage: Rays. Both teams have excellent starters, but I'll take David Price and company over Cliff Lee and the Rangers.
Bullpen. Advantage: Rangers. Rays have a pretty good pen but the Rangers have a bunch of guys who can keep games close.
Closer. Neftali Feliz vs. Rafael Soriano. Advantage: Rays. Another great match up but Feliz is a rookie and while Soriano has never been too great in the past I'll take him in this scenario.
Bench. Advantage: Even. Both teams were proactive at the deadline bringing in veteran hitters, but neither team has many stand out guys there. With their line ups and speed don't expect the bench to get too much use anyway.

Overall Advantage: Rays. Rays in 4. This might be the best match up in the whole playoffs but the Rays were in the World Series 2 years ago with many of the same guys while Vlad and Lee are the only ones with post season experience (ok, Darren Oliver) and I think that the young Rays will be more energetic as they were in 08.

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