Texas Rangers Make History By Extending Playoff Winning Streaks, Remaining Undefeated
Following their Game 1 win over the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on Sunday night, the Texas Rangers remain undefeated in the 2023 postseason.
The Rangers swept the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL Wild Card Series after just barely sneaking into the playoffs on the final weekend of the regular season. From there, they swept the top-seeded Baltimore Orioles in the ALDS.
An ALCS-opening win at the Astros has pushed the Rangers to 6-0 since the postseason began. There have only been five teams that have started a postseason on a longer winning streak, according to MLB.com's Sarah Langs.
The 2014 Kansas City Royals have the record with eight straight wins to open a postseason, although they lost to the San Francisco Giants in the World Series. Kansas City did win a championship the following year, however.
Four teams have won seven games in a row to start a playoff run, most recently the Astros en route to their World Series victory in 2022. The Cincinnati Reds went a perfect 7-0 in the 1976 postseason, while the Colorado Rockies went 7-0 before getting swept by the Boston Red Sox in the 2007 World Series.
The Rangers have gotten five of their six wins on the road, with their only home game coming in the closeout contest of the ALDS.
According to Langs, Texas’ 5-0 start on the road this postseason has only ever been bested by two other teams – the 1996 New York Yankees and the 2005 Chicago White Sox. Both of those teams went on to win the World Series.
That bodes well for the Rangers, who are now three wins away from punching their ticket to the World Series for the first time since they reached the Fall Classic in 2010 and 2011. Texas has never won a World Series in its 63 seasons of existence.
Game 2 between the Rangers and Astros is scheduled to get underway Monday at 4:37 p.m. ET.
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