Dein erstes Forum » erence records only): Oklahoma (8-1)

The Blue Jays dominated the Rangers in Thursdays ALDS Game 1. Will they make it a Texas two-step when the two teams meet again Friday afternoon?Go inside the numbers and matchups that will decide Fridays game, and then vote for which team will win at the bottom of the page.Inside the pitching matchupWhen?Happ is on the mound:?One of the least likely 20-game winners in recent memory,?J.A. Happ?signed a three-year, $36 million contract that now looks like the bargain of the offseason. When he was traded from the Mariners to the Pirates last year, Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage had Happ raise his arm slot a bit and take a more direct stride toward home plate.The idea that this increased the velocity on his four-seamer isnt necessarily true. While he now throws 92-93 mph as opposed to 89-90 when he first came up with the Phillies, he was also throwing 92-93 with the Blue Jays in 2014. It has, however, generated more swing-and-misses -- up from 15.9 percent with his fastball in 2014 to 20.5 percent this year -- with better command as well. The raise in arm slot has perhaps added some deception to his delivery.He works away to right-handers with his fastball and goes up or low and away to lefties. He throws both a four-seamer and two-seamer and throws his fastball a lot -- 73 percent of the time. Among qualified starters, only Bartolo Colon and teammate Aaron Sanchez threw a higher rate of fastballs. His secondary pitchers are a slider, curveball and changeup. He throws the curve about only seven times per start but batters hit .137 against it. It could be an effective two-strike option against an aggressive Rangers lineup. -- David SchoenfieldWhen Darvish is on the mound: In his return from Tommy John surgery,?Yu Darvish?was as dominant as before, striking out 132 batters in 100 innings. After returning in late May, he made three starts and then missed five weeks because of neck and shoulder issues, but he was healthy in the second half. In his final outing against the Rays, he fanned 12 in six innings.Darvish has a full arsenal of pitches (including a slider, changeup, curveball, cutter, sinker) but has learned that he can succeed living off a fastball that averaged 93.5 mph -- actually higher average velocity than pre-surgery -- and a deadly slider. He changes speeds effectively with the fastball as he can still dial back and touch 97-98. Batters hit .157 against his slider, right in line with his career mark of .162. Perhaps as a precaution after the surgery, he doesnt throw the slider as much as he did, down from 30 percent to about 20 percent.One thing I dont understand is why he doesnt ditch the cutter. It was an effective pitch for him in 2012, but batters have pounded it ever since -- hitting .333 and slugging .567 against it. Sometimes it seems Darvish simply has too many pitches and likes to use all of them, although he has cut his walk rate from his rookie season. The Rangers were pretty careful with his pitch count as he topped 100 only three times (all in August), but improved efficiency allowed him to go six-plus innings in 11 of his final 13 starts. -- SchoenfieldPlayer in the spotlightAdrian Beltre. At 37, Beltre had another tremendous season, hitting .300 with 32 home runs and cementing his status as a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He was also Mr. Clutch, hitting .385/.408/.646 in late and close situations. He has averaged 6.3 WAR per season since joining the Rangers in 2011. What hed love is to get back to the World Series like that first season in Texas -- and win it this time. -- SchoenfieldWhat will decide todays gameJose Bautista has homered in each of the first two games of this postseason, but hes about to face his kryptonite. Hes 1-for-18 with nine strikeouts against Game 2 starter Darvish. On Bautistas career, thats his worst average against any pitcher he has faced at least 15 times.Darvish has succeeded against Bautista by keeping the ball away. He typically throws outside pitches -- those on the outer third of the plate or further outside -- 44 percent of the time against right-handed hitters. Against Bautista, that rate is 60 percent. Bautista hit .175 with a .288 slugging percentage against outside pitches this season. From 2012 to 2015, he hit .250 with a .411 slugging percentage against them.?--?ESPN Stats & InfoChoosing sides: Who will win?When Darvish becomes a free agent after next season, hell be looking for a deal that pays him close to $30 million, if not more. Winning Game 2 of the ALDS against lefty Happ would look real good on an already excellent resume. Darvish will need his best effort to beat Torontos 20-game winner, but the Rangers signed him to win games like this. He gave up one run or fewer in three of his past four starts. Who knows how much the four-day layoff hurt the Rangers, but it wont matter all that much if they go down 2-0. -- Jean-Jacques TaylorThe Blue Jays won big Thursday and have 20-game winner Happ starting. Closer Roberto Osuna also probably will be recovered and ready to go. So the Rangers will need a great outing from Darvish or they will be heading to Toronto with their backs to the wall, their toes on the cliff edge and their spouses one finger tap from booking a mid-October trip to Hawaii. Will that pressure help or hurt Darvish? Well see, but Im looking for a closer game than 10-1.?-- Jim CapleWhere the series standsIts not a must-win game for the Rangers, but it feels like a must-win game, as you dont want to go back to Toronto down 2-0 and facing AL ERA leader Aaron Sanchez in Game 3. Bautista has homered in six of his past 13 games, so Darvish will have to figure out how to avoid seeing another Bautista long ball.?--?Schoenfield New Orleans Pelicans Pro Shop . 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ETwaun Moore Jersey . -- Running backs Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings were back at practice for the Oakland Raiders on Wednesday despite being hampered by hamstring injuries. Now that the Big 12 has decided to stay at 10 schools, its time for the conference to figure out whether to split up into football divisions and determine who will play in the Big 12 championship game that returns next season.We werent able to move forward in a direction until we knew about the composition of the conference going forward, Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione said. We are looking at several options.If the league opts to return to divisions, the big question then becomes how to split into groups of five.As a 12-team league until 2010, the Big 12 had North and South divisions. That is possible again, or maybe a roughly East-West split? There are four Texas schools, two each in Kansas and Oklahoma and one each in Iowa and West Virginia.Its a hard league to play in because you play everybody, TCU coach Gary Patterson said. Good teams are good teams. ... Itll be interesting to see how they set it up and how they do it.The league is keeping the round-robin schedule proudly touted since dropping to 10 teams so, divisions or not, every team will still play each other every year. Thats different from the larger conferences; Nebraska left the Big 12 for a 14-team Big Ten after the 2010 season and last weekend played Indiana in a conference game for the first time.Traditional rivalry games like Texas-Oklahoma at the State Fair of Texas, Kansas-Kansas State and Baylor-TCU will continue an annual basis. There is just now the possibility of a championship game rematch.Castiglione said league ADs will even consider the possibility of divisions that would change every so many years based on some sort of metric, perhaps standings from previous seasons.Or without divisions, the league could match its top two overall finishers for the title game.Theres certainly risk and reward with that choice, but its an option, Castiglione said.With divisions in the smallest Power Five conference , teams from the other division could be scheduled to play in the first portion of conference play, providing a potential gap of a month or so between what will always be a rematch in the title game.If taking the top two teams overall, there could be back-to-back games against the same teams. Last year, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were the top two teams after the Sooners won their annual Bedlam matchup by 35 points to end their regular seasons.That would have also been a possibility this year, when ninth-ranked Baylor, 12th-ranked West Virginia and No. 16 Oklahoma are all still without a conference loss. The Bears and Mountaineers play on the final Saturday of the regular season.NO PERFECT SPLITS OR NAMESSplitting and naming divisions is always a challenge open to debate.Remember the Legends and Leaders divisions for the Big Ten? It switched to East and West in 2014 when Maryland and Rutgers joined that league.ddddddddddddThe ACC has Atlantic and Coastal divisions, though most of its 14 football teams are inland. When Missouri left the Big 12 for the 14-team SEC, the Tigers ended up in the East Division though they are one of only three SEC schools whose campus is West of the Mississippi River. The Pac-12 has North and South divisions, though the split is arguably more East-West.DIVIDED BIG 12 LOOKSo how would be Big 12 look this season if already split up in divisions? Here are some possibilities:Current Big 12 standings , conference records only: Baylor (3-0), Oklahoma (3-0), West Virginia (2-0) Oklahoma State (2-1), TCU (2-1), Kansas State (1-2), Texas (1-2), Texas Tech (1-2), Kansas (0-3), Iowa State (0-4).- If North-South:North: West Virginia (2-0), Oklahoma State (2-1), Kansas State (1-2), Kansas (0-3), Iowa State (0-4).South: Baylor (3-0), Oklahoma (3-0), TCU (2-1), Texas (1-2), Texas Tech (1-2).- If East-West:East: Baylor (3-0), West Virginia (2-0), Oklahoma State (2-1), Kansas (0-3), Iowa State (0-4).West: Oklahoma (3-0), TCU (2-1), Texas Tech (1-2), Kansas State (1-2), Texas (1-2).A FULL SEASON DIVIDEDHad the Big 12 been split into divisions last season, things would have looked different, though Oklahoma and Oklahoma State would have been division champs in either scenario.Final 2015 standings (conference records only): Oklahoma (8-1), Oklahoma State (7-2), TCU (7-2), Baylor (6-3), West Virginia (4-5), Texas Tech (4-5), Texas (4-5), Kansas State (3-6), Iowa State (2-7), Kansas (0-9).- If North-South:North: Oklahoma State (7-2), West Virginia (4-5), Kansas State (3-6), Iowa State (2-7), Kansas (0-9).South: Oklahoma (8-1), TCU (7-2), Baylor (6-3), Texas Tech (4-5), Texas (4-5).- If East-West:East: Oklahoma State (7-2), TCU (7-2), West Virginia (4-5), Texas Tech (4-5), Texas (4-5). ((asterisk)Oklahoma State beat TCU head-to-head).West: Oklahoma (8-1), Baylor (6-3), Kansas State (3-6), Iowa State (2-7), Kansas (0-9).PAST DIVISIONSThe Big 12 started play in 1996 with North and South divisions. Six teams from the old Big Eight Conference were in the North, and that former leagues other teams -- Oklahoma and Oklahoma State -- were in the South with four Texas schools from the old Southwest Conference.After the North and South alternated wins in the first eight Big 12 championship games, the South won the last seven (Oklahoma five, Texas two).---OnlineAP College Football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '