ALDS Game 2s: Texas at Baltimore/Minnesota at Houston

It’s amazing how quickly things can turn around in the MLB Playoffs. The Baltimore Orioles were the darlings of the league most of the season, a 101-win juggernaut, and now they’re one loss away from needing to start Dean Kremer or Kyle Gibson in a win-or-go game after a tight Game 1 loss. Meanwhile, the Astros look like the experienced playoff veterans that they’ve been, making easy work of the Twins in Houston yesterday. We could be one game away from the first-ever all-Texas ALCS after today, looking to put their opponents on the brink of elimination.

The Rangers are probably feeling pretty confident, throwing unexpected late-season ace Jordan Montgomery against the Orioles, having managed to steal home field advantage in a game started by Andrew Heaney. That game kicks off from Camden Yards at 3:07 p.m. CT.

Montgomery was quietly one of the best pitchers in the American League after joining Texas from St. Louis at the trade deadline, posting a 2.79 ERA in 11 starts (67 2⁄3 innings) down the stretch. He was nothing short of dominant in his Game 1 win over the Rays in the Wild Card round, spinning seven shutout innings on the road. Bruce Bochy seems to like the southpaw matchup against the Orioles’ lefty- and switch hitting-heavy lineup, and we’ll see if it pays off. With playoff All-Star (and real All-Star, in 2023) Nathan Eovaldi looming in Game 3, the pressure on the home team here will be about as high as it gets.

The Orioles are putting their faith in rookie Grayson Rodríguez, whose 4.35 season ERA belies a 2.26 mark over his last 12 starts, in which he looked all the part of the top prospect he was made out to be. His stuff is as nasty as any you’ll see in this series, but a rookie is still a rookie, and it’s impossible to predict how they’ll respond to the bright lights of October baseball.

You can watch the broadcast on Fox Sports 1.

Following that matchup, the Minnesota Twins take the field against the Houston Astros. hoping to avoid the start of another playoff streak so soon after breaking a record-setting one. José Altuve and Yordan Alvarez victimized Baily Ober early in the game, and Justin Verlander added to his playoff record book entries with six shutout innings.

The Twins get to send their nastiest pitcher to the bump as they try to stay out of a 2-0 hole, letting loose Pablo López and his 234 strikeouts in a team-leading 194 innings. The Astros counter with the heart and soul of their own rotation, Framber Váldez, who averaged 6 1⁄3 innings pitched per start with a 1.44 ERA during Houston’s World Series run last year. At this point, it’s simply hard to bet against the Astros, who have made an unprecedented six straight ALCS appearances and are firmly in the early-2010s San Antonio Spurs territory, in which you simply can’t care much about their regular season record because they’re always dangerous in October.

You can watch this game at 7:03 p.m. CT, also on Fox Sports 1.