Texas Rangers To Face Tampa Bay Rays In American League Wild Card Series

Marcus Semien #2 and Jonah Heim #28 of the Texas Rangers celebrate after beating the Seattle Mariners 6-1 to clinch a 2023 MLB playoff berth at T-Mobile Park on September 30, 2023 in Seattle, Washington.

Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images

The Texas Rangers will face the Tampa Bay Rays in the best of three American League Wild Card Series beginning on Tuesday afternoon at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

The fifth-seeded Rangers and the fourth-seeded Rays are scheduled to play at 2:08 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 3-4. If a Game 3 is necessary on Thursday, October 5, it is scheduled for a 2:08 p.m. CT start but is subject to change depending on the status of the other three Wild Card Series.

This is ninth time that Texas has advanced to the playoffs, the second occasion as a Wild Card qualifier (2012). The Rangers defeated the Rays in both the 2010 (3-2) and 2011 (3-1) ALDS.

The winner of the Texas-Tampa Bay series will play the top-seeded Baltimore Orioles in the American League Division Series with Game 1 scheduled for Saturday, October 7 at Oriole Park.

Marcus Semien #2 and Corey Seager #5 of the Texas Rangers celebrate in the clubhouse after the Texas Rangers clinched a 2023 MLB playoff berth Mariners at T-Mobile Park on September 30, 2023 in Seattle, Washington.

Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images Sport / Getty Images