5 Reasons Why The Blue Jays Should Be Afraid Of The Rangers

3. Playoff Veteran Experience

In most cases with professional sports, getting playoff reps in combined with having veteran experience usually helps win championships. Both sides of inexperience achieving and veteran experience prevailing have shown in the last year. The Patriots, Blackhawks, and Giants, all victorious last year, had great veteran leadership on their team that propelled them to championships. While the Golden State Warriors, with youth and energy, were able to take down the Cavs led by Lebron James, who had been to The Finals five years in a row.

If we compare the rosters of the Blue Jays and Rangers, they have very contrasting  playoff experience. In terms of position players from the starting nine, the Blue Jays have three that have post season experience (Russell Martin, Josh Donaldson, Troy Tulowitzki), who have a combined 236AB in the postseason. The Rangers, on the other hand, have six position players, (Mitch Moreland, Elvis Andrus, Adrian Beltre, Josh Hamilton, Shin-Soo Choo, and Prince Fielder) with a total of 599 AB.

If we consider the Blue Jays starting rotation, the first round most likely will contain David Price, R.A. Dickey, Marco Estrada, and Marcus Stroman. This leaves only two starting pitchers who have postseason experience, David Price and Marco Estrada, who was working as a reliever at the time, who combine for 46IP (40 of those coming just from Price). The Rangers will most likely use Cole Hamels, Yovani Gallardo, and Colby Lewis ,who combined have 157.2IP in the postseason.

Although the Blue Jays, with the more talented lineup, might be more comparable to the Golden State Warriors, it’s hard to undervalue the post season experience the Texas Rangers have.

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