Why Texas Rangers Will Beat Houston Astros in ALCS Game 7

The Texas Rangers have the managing edge, and the starting pitching edge, and their two best hitters are due to bust out against the Houston Astros in ALCS Game 7.

HOUSTON — Here we are, at last. A Game 7 made in Lone Star State baseball dreams.

The Texas Rangers and Houston Astros will play a winner-take-all American League Championship finale at 7:03 p.m. Monday at Minute Maid Park.

The Rangers forced Game 7 with a dramatic 9-2 win Sunday night, staving off elimination and stunning a sold-out Astros crowd.

The winner advances to the World Series to play the National League winner between the Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks.

The loser goes home to simmer in the regrets of what could have been.

Here's why Rangers fans should be hopeful they're going to their third World Series and first since 2011.

3 Reasons Why The Texas Rangers Will Win ALCS Game 7

Here are three reasons the Texas Rangers will beat the Houston Astros in ALCS Game 7:

The Bruce Bochy Edge

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy has never lost a Game 7 postseason game. His San Francisco Giants beat the Cardinals in the 2012 NLCS Game 7 and beat the Kansas City Royals in the 2014 World Series Game 7.

In the 2012 NLCS, Bochy's Giants won three consecutive elimination games.

Bochy is 5-0 in elimination games, the most wins without a loss by a manager in postseason history.

Meanwhile, Astros manager Dusty Baker has never won a Game 7. His 2002 Giants lost World Series Game 7 to the Los Angeles Angeles, his 2003 Chicago Cubs lost to the Miami Marlins in NLCS Game 7, and his 2002 Astos lost ALCS Game 7 to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Mad Max

Max Scherzer gets another shot after his Game 3 start to leave his mark on this ALCS. Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young winner and future Hall of Famer, has been here before. In fact, he started in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series for the Washington Nationals against the Astros at Minute Maid Park. Scherzer held the Astros to two runs on seven hits and four walks. It wasn't pretty, but he got the game to the Nats' bullpen trailing 2-0. The Nats scored three in the seventh to win the World Series as the road team won every game in the series. Scherzer threw 103 pitches, and only struck out three, but except a solo homer from Yuli Gurriel, held the Houston offense in check.

The Seager and Semien Factor

Let's face it, the backbone of the Rangers offense all season — Corey Seager and Marcus Semien — haven't done much offensively in the ALCS. They've combined for two RBI (both Seager) and are hitting .192 (Seager) and .208 (Semien) in the series. They're both two of the best hitters in the majors. Both are due to bust out. Semien has shown signs of snapping out of it with two singles and two walks in the Game 6 win. Seager was 0 for 4 with a hit-by-pitch RBI but lined out hard twice Sunday night.

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You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.

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