2010 MLB Playoffs

Two games into both American League Division Series match-ups and it seems that the Yankees made the right decision by winning the Wild Card.

The Texas Rangers clubbed the Tampa Bay Rays 6-0 Thursday to take a commanding 2-0 lead in their ALDS matchup. 

The Rangers have never won a postseason series in the franchise's history, but that looks like it will change in 2010. Are they just a fluke, destined to burn out in the ALCS, or something bigger and more promising? 

Here are 10 reasons why the Rangers a trustworthy this October. 

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Yesterday afternoon, as Roy Halladay was preparing for yesterday's NLDS opener, Cliff Lee was putting the finishing touches on another brilliant postseason pitching performance. 

Lee dominated the AL's most potent offense, striking out 10 Tampa Bay Rays batters while holding them to one run to give the Texas Rangers their first playoff win in 14 years. 

Cliff Lee opened up the ALDS yesterday for the Texas Rangers in Tampa Bay as they faced off the Rays in Game 1. Lee was matched up against Tampa’s ace, David Price. It was set to be an epic pitching duel, but Lee completely dominated leading the Rangers to a 5-1 victory.

In order for a team to be successful in the playoffs, it is imperative that it has at least one dominant starting pitcher.

Each year, the winner of the World Series features one, if not a few starting pitchers who are capable of tossing eight innings of shutout ball on any given night.

Halladay did one better last night.

With his electrifying performance in Game 1 of the National League Division Series came visions of postseason dominance gone by. Here are the five greatest postseason pitching performances of all time.

Roy Halladay and Don Larsen are two pitchers who couldn’t be more different, but after Halladay tossed his no-hitter against last night, the two will forever be linked.

It wouldn’t be a Yankees—Twins playoff game if the Yankees didn’t fall behind early only to victimize the Twinkies late in the game to come out ahead for their seventh consecutive playoff victory, 6-4, against Minnesota.

Here are some highlights:

There's certainly going to be an influx of Roy Halladay articles popping up in the next day or so, and it's easy to see why.

Halladay is only the second pitcher in MLB playoff history to throw a no-hitter and the first in over 50 years since Yankee Don Larsen pitched his perfect game against the Dodgers in the 1956 World Series.

He's also thrown his second no-hitter of the season, the first being a perfect game.

On the surface, it sounds like a silly question: Does Derek Lowe or Tim Lincecum have the edge in Game 1 of the NLDS Series between the Atlanta Braves and the San Francisco Giants?

On one hand, you have the two-time NL Cy Young Award winner in Lincecum, and on the other, is the Braves “15 million dollar mistake” in Lowe. Yet when you look deeper, Lowe might be better suited to pitch in this game than you would think.