ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Fresh legs and arms on one side, experience and momentum on the other.
The Tampa Bay Rays rested while the Chicago White Sox worked overtime to secure a playoff berth. No one can be sure what that will mean when their AL division series begins today at Tropicana Field.
“I don’t think there’s any advantage to the way they got here,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said. “I think they are who they are. They are a bunch of veterans. They are going to approach the day pretty much the same way. I don’t see them riding emotional waves.”
The White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 1-0 in a tiebreaker that decided the AL Central championship on Tuesday night. They also won potential elimination games on Sunday and Monday to remain on course.
“I don’t want them to be happy just to be here,” Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. “I’m not the type of guy, ‘Oh, we made it here, everybody rah-rah, good job, great job.’ . . . You have to go to the World Series to get the thing done for the year.”
Javier Vazquez (12-16) will start Game 1 for Chicago. James Shields (14-8) will throw the first pitch in Tampa Bay postseason history.
The teams bring contrasting styles to the best-of-five series both managers agree will be decided by pitching.
The Rays like to use youth and speed to their advantage, especially on the artificial turf at home. The White Sox lead the majors in home runs.
“They don’t try to manufacture things. Almost 50 percent of their runs came via the home run, so you have to keep that in the back of your mind,” Maddon said. “They occasionally will do something on the bases, but primarily they like to hit the ball out of the ball park.”
Maddon doesn’t expect Chicago’s approach to change now. And, his team certainly has no intentions of switching gears, especially after winning a franchise-record 97 games and capturing the AL East just a year removed from finishing with the worst record in baseball.
Jim Thome, whose seventh-inning homer was the difference on Tuesday, likes how the Sox are playing.
“Momentum is big. If you look at throughout the postseason, the wild-card teams that get in do very well because they’ve had to play good, tight games,” he said. “They’ve had to play close games to get to this point.”
All games on TBS
Game 1 Today, 2:37 p.m. @ Tampa Bay W.Sox’s J. Vazquez 12-16, 4.67 Rays’ James Shields 14-8, 3.56
Game 2 Friday, 4:07 p.m. @ Tampa Bay W. Sox’s M. Buehrle 15-12, 3.79 Rays’ Scott Kazmir 12-8, 3.49
Game 3 Sunday, TBA @ Chicago Rays’ Matt Garza 11-9, 3.70 W. Sox’s Gavin Floyd 17-8, 3.84
Game 4 Monday, TBA @ Chicago Rays’ A. Sonnanstine 13-9, 4.38 White Sox pitcher TBA
Game 5 Wednesday, TBA @ Tampa Bay White Sox pitcher TBA Rays’ James Shields 14-8, 3.56
*All starters projected
