The World Series returns to Busch Stadium on Wednesday with the Texas Rangers needing just one more win against the St. Louis Cardinals to secure their first world championship. The Rangers have never been this close to baseball immortality, but instead of looking at their place in history, they remain focused on the present.
"We've done a lot of things that this franchise has never done," Ian Kinsler said, according to the Star-Telegram. "We keep accomplishing things as a team, and we're going to continue to accomplish things. It's very hard to think about right now. We're focused on winning one more game."
The Cardinals have tasked Jaime Garcia to stop that from happening, and if he pitches as well as he did in Game 2 in St. Louis, the Cards might just live to force Game 7. Garcia struck out seven over seven shutout innings in that start, but the Cardinals ultimately lost 2-1 when Jason Motte gave up two runs in the ninth.
"It's been the same for me the last two months basically, and I'm still going to try to do the same thing," Garcia said. "Don't change anything, don't try to do too much because this is the World Series. That's kind of how I feel."
Colby Lewis, who allowed just one run over 6 2/3 innings in Game 2, starts for the Rangers.
"Well, you definitely think when you're in a kid, you want to be in this position, be on this stage," Lewis said. "I think just being in the situation that we were last year throughout the playoffs gives you more of an edge, more relaxation. That's for sure."
Lewis is used to being an October hero, having won Game 3 of last year's World Series, the only game the Rangers took from the eventual champion San Francisco Giants. It earned Lewis a footnote in team history as the first Rangers pitcher ever to win a World Series game. With a win in Game 6, he'll write an entire chapter.
Start time: 8:05 p.m. (ET)
TV coverage: FOX
Projected starters and their postseason stats:
Cardinals: Jaime Garcia (0-2, 3.97 ERA in four starts)
Rangers: Colby Lewis (1-1, 2.95 ERA in three starts)