Texas Rangers' MacKenzie Gore takes the mound in a high-stakes finale, needing a victory and help from the Houston Astros to secure a postseason berth.
There are 162 games in the regular season, but somehow the final American League playoff spot has boiled down to the final game.
The Texas Rangers are 80-81 heading into game No. 162 against the Minnesota Twins, a team that beat them 10-2 in the series opener.
Thankfully for the Rangers, they were able to pull out a win on Saturday, Sept. 26, to keep their season alive.
Now, they're forced to do it again. Coming off a 6-2 win roughly 24 hours ago, the Rangers will send MacKenzie Gore to the mound in a game where they don't even decide their own fate.
Winning is all the Rangers can do at this point in time as they know it'll also take a Houston Astros loss to make the playoffs.
For the sake of the Rangers' final game of the year, they just need to control what they can control, and that's looking to have Gore end the year with his ninth win.
Gore vs. Dean Kremer
Gore will make his final regular-season start of the year at Target Field, bringing his 8-11 record and 4.59 ERA to Minneapolis, MN.
His opponent is Dean Kremer, a right-handed pitcher who is 4-5 with an ERA just under 5.00 (4.97).
Gore has thrown 92 more strikeouts than Kremer this season, a number that is hard to fathom knowing Kremer has only thrown 82 himself.
Obviously, this has to do with the fact that Kremer has only started 16 games compared to Gore's 33.
Regardless, it's a relatively favorable matchup for the Rangers, at least on paper, as they're throwing a southpaw out there.
That said, Kremer has been on a role. The 30-year-old has picked up a win in two of his last three starts, and he's only allowed three earned runs in his last 16.2 innings of work.
When looking at Gore's numbers, the 27-year-old hasn't recorded a win since Tuesday, Sept. 1.
Gore's last three starts have only gone 13.0 innings. He's given up eight earned runs in that span and picked up a loss on Friday, Sept. 11.
Gore has pitched against the Twins this season, though he took the loss in a seven-inning start that saw him record 10 strikeouts but allow four earned runs.
As for Kremer, he hasn't pitched against the Rangers since July 21, 2024. That outing saw him also take a loss as he allowed three earned runs off five hits in 5.1 innings.
