ALCS Schedule 2010 Nears Surprising End

The ALCS schedule 2010 may end very soon. However, the ALCS schedule 2010 may end with a different celebration in Yankee Stadium than expected. If a pennant was to be clinched in New York, then the Yankees looked to be the ones to do it. That seemed clear after Game 1, as their comeback win in Texas was expected to trigger a blowout. Instead, it triggered a blowout in a different way, as the Rangers have dominated every game since. As such, the most shocking thing about the ALCS is that it is going to a Game 5 today.

The Yankees have gone limp in both pitching and hitting, which has happened more often than usual already. The pitching rotation was regarded as questionable beyond C.C. Sabathia, yet they seemed to have fixed it against the Twins. However, the Rangers are less affected by their postseason past than the Twins are.

The ALCS schedule could - and perhaps should - have been over by now, if not for one poor eighth inning by the Rangers bullpen. Of course, it's impossible to know if the Rangers would have been this dominant in Games 2, 3 and 4 without their Game 1 collapse. But at this point, it may not matter.

In every game, the Rangers have either exploded early or late to put the Yankees in a hole. In Game 3, they jumped out early and let Cliff Lee do the rest, until the offense gave him even more run support late. Last night, they actually had to fight back from a deficit by once again using the long ball.

With four home runs in the last four innings, and two from Josh Hamilton, the Rangers turned another close game into a slaughter. Thus far, the ALCS has been littered with Rangers' blowouts, as their closest win was their 7-2 triumph in Game 2. In every game so far, they have been up by five runs at some point.

Yankee pitching and hitting power has been scarce - so much so that losing Mark Teixiera for the postseason doesn't seem like a downgrade. While New York has fallen apart, Texas has proved to have the biggest bashers and the best arms.

While the NLCS has been devoid of runs, the ALCS schedule has shown the Rangers as the best offensive team left. If the Rangers do reach the World Series, they may well be able to knock the Phillies and Giants aces around. In addition, they have Lee, but they also have C.J. Wilson, Colby Lewis, and Derek Holland for clutch long relief.

When the ALCS schedule was formed, no one figured that Game 5 could secure the pennant for the Rangers. But not only could they win the pennant, they could be World Series favorites at this point. They can back that up again by ending the ALCS today at 4:07 p.m. est on TBS.

Sources

SI.com- "Rangers best Yankees with power, pitching in Game 4 pounding"