By Austin McNabb
The Texas Rangers are headed to Tampa Bay to take on the Rays in a four-game series that is crucial to both teams.
Texas (81-67) comes to the Sunshine State with a six-game losing streak while Tampa Bay (81-67) has won three of its last four.
Both teams have identical records and are essentially tied for the fourth seed and top wild-card spot, which also means if the season were to end today, both teams would make the playoffs as wild cards in a one-game series. However, three teams are lurking behind in the wild-card race.
The Rangers are coming off a six-game home stand in which they were not only swept, but never led against playoff-caliber teams in Pittsburgh and Oakland. Texas is also 2-11 in the month of September after going 20-9 in August.
Rangers starting pitcher Matt Garza (3-4, 4.46 ERA) comes back to Tampa Bay to face his former team in the series opener tonight. Garza is 0-3 in his last four starts and during his last two outings, he has given up nine runs in 11 innings.
In the other dugout, Rays starting pitcher Alex Cobb (8-3, 3.08 ERA) will be looking to end his four-game losing streak tonight.
Rangers slugger Adrian Beltre is 1-6 against Cobb and is 4-28 in his last eight starts against Tampa Bay despite hitting .375 in his last six games.
First pitch starts at 6:10 CDT Monday at Tropicana Field.
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