Rangers vs. Orioles LIVE UPDATES: AL Wild Card Game Features Yu Darvish, Joe Saunders

LIVE: Rangers vs. Orioles

Baltimore Orioles (93-69)
vs.
Texas Rangers (93-69)
Rangers Ballpark In Arlington
8:37 p.m. EST
TBS

Both the Baltimore Orioles and the Texas Rangers would rather not be here. Both American League clubs entered their final series of the regular season aiming to clinch a division crown. The Rangers were hoping to hold off the surging Oakland Athletics while the O's were hoping to overtake the Yankees. Both teams failed. But thanks to the dual-Wild Card format debutting during the 2012 MLB playoffs, both teams still have a shot to win the World Series.

Despite landing in this win-or-go-fishing Wild Card Game with identical regular-season records, the teams have been trending quite differently down the stretch. The surging Orioles have taken flight in the second half, posting a 38-20 record since August 1 to battle the Yankees for the AL East title. At the other end of the momentum spectrum, the Rangers scuffled to a 15-16 mark from September 1. That late-season swoon included an 0-3 sweep in Oakland on the final three days of the season that cost the Rangers the division crown.

Appearing in the postseason for the first time since 1997, the Orioles don't have anywhere near the playoff experience of the Rangers, who have represented the Junior Loop in the World Series the past two seasons. Will experience matter more than momentum? Or do both mean little relative to performance of today's pitchers? Yu Darvish takes the mound for the Rangers after a superlative debut campaign in the majors. For the Orioles, left-hander Joe Saunders will pitch in a ballpark that he has never won.

Who keeps their season alive?

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