Playoff Schedule Set

Texas and Tampa Bay kick off the playoffs Wednesday afternoon in St. Petersberg Florida. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Well, good luck to anyone that works or goes to school for the majority of the day seeing any part of the first two games of the American League Divisional Series (A.L.D.S.) between the Tampa Bay Rays (96-66) and Texas Rangers (90-72). Without Tivo, and an adequate amount of patience, it's going to be difficult for most people to tune in to a 12:37 p.m. start time on a Wednesday.

All three of the games so far with allotted times are in the afternoon, with all three of the other A.L.D.S. between the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins scheduled for prime time. The Rangers certainly are not the Yankees, having won only one playoff game in the franchise's existence, but couldn't Texas have gotten one game in prime time?

But I digress. Here is the schedule (all times central) for the A.L.D.S. between the Rangers and the Rays.

Wed, 10/5 - 12:37 p.m.
Thurs, 10/6- 1:37 p.m.
Sat, 10/9- 4:07 p.m.
Sun, 10/10- TBA
Tues, 10/12- TBA

News and Notes:

• Josh Hamilton finished the season at the Major League batting champion with a .359 batting average - 23 points higher than the next best batter. Hamilton also finished fifth in the American League (A.L.) in homers (32) and 12th in RBI (100) despite playing in only 133 games. Hamilton is only the second player in Rangers' history to win the batting title, joining Julio Franco - who hit a then team-record .341 in 1991.
  
• Vladimir Guerrero was arguably the best free agent pickup for any team this season. Guerrero finished the season fourth in the A.L. in RBI (115), ninth in home runs (29), and finished the season with a .300 batting average - 11th best in the A.L.
• The Rangers pitching staff finished the season with a 3.93 earned run average. It's the first time since the team moved to the Ballpark in Arlington in 1994 that the staff ERA has been under 4.00.