Remember that time at the end of the 2012 season when the Texas Rangers played the Baltimore Orioles in the AL Wild Card Game and had pretty much already been assured a victory considering the Orioles were going with Joe Saunders as their starter against Yu Darvish in his rookie season with the Rangers?
We all know how that turned out.
Saunders, who is historically awful in Arlington, pitched perhaps the game of his life considering the stage and what was at stake, and shut down a struggling Rangers offense to eliminate the Rangers after two straight AL pennants.
Now, Saunders, who was brought in as rotation depth this spring and forced to play a key role, will make his first start as a Rangers pitcher in Arlington against, you guessed it, the Orioles.
Funny thing about this matchup is that Saunders, as bad as he historically has been in Arlington (1-7 record, 8.58 ERA), he's been equally good as a starter against the Orioles, for whom he played just that one season in 2012.
In his nine career starts against Baltimore, Saunders is 7-0 with a 4.09 ERA, including a 2-0 mark last year with the Mariners in which he allowed four runs in 15 innings.
Something will give on Tuesday night, and the Rangers hope it's his historically bad mark in Arlington.
