ARLINGTON, Texas – For a World Series champion, World Series Most Valuable Player and National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player, one would think that 31-year-old southpaw Cole Hamels has experienced every facet of the postseason.
That is not the case.
This afternoon at the Rogers Centre, in the final game of the American League Division Series between the Texas Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays, the former Philadelphia Phillies' ace will be making his first career postseason start on the brink of elimination.
As Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News points out, Hamels has started in a fair share of postseason games on the opposite side of the spectrum, being on the brink of clinching the series.
Hamels has started four times with a chance for his team to clinch a postseason series. His club has won all four. He's allowed a total of six earned runs in those games in 261/3 innings (2.05 ERA). The last time out: a complete-game shutout of Cincinnati in 2010 to finish off an NL Division Series sweep by the Phillies.
Over 14 career postseason appearances, Hamels is 7-4 with a 3.05 ERA and a 1.038 WHIP ratio. Out of those 14, six have occurred in division series, in which the left hander has a 1.94 ERA and a 0.864 WHIP ratio.
Grant later notes that Hamels isn't the first former Phillies-turned-Rangers ace to make a start in an elimination game.
On Oct. 12, 2010, in game five against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field, LHP Cliff Lee threw a complete game, allowing just one run over six hits and striking out 11 batters.
At the time, this was Lee's fourth double-digit strikeout performance over his previous five postseason appearances.
The Rangers would go on to lose the World Series that year in five games to the San Francisco Giants, which was their first championship since 1954.
Today's elimination game is scheduled for 4:07 p.m. EST on Fox Sports 1. Hamels is expected to oppose RHP Marcus Stroman, who was 4-0 with a 1.67 ERA spanning four regular season starts.
Stroman, 24, received a no-decision in game two on Friday, his postseason debut, allowing three earned runs over seven innings.
Matt Rappa (@mattrappasports) is managing editor of Philliedelphia.com.
