Texas League title chasing

Tulsa and Midland exited Game 1 of their respective Texas League Divisional Series looking for answers. Now, both teams are looking for a Texas League title.

The chase for the title starts tonight at ONEOK Field. Tulsa vs. Midland — a showdown of two teams that finished second in their respective divisions at the overall end of the regular season.

It would appear to be a mismatch at first glance. Tulsa won the regular-season series 9-3. The Drillers have superior pitching and have been hitting well as of late.

But, Midland knocked off a solid Frisco team to reach the finals, so sometimes the outcome isn't as obvious.

Series breakdown

Pitching

Advantage: Tulsa

The Drillers are going to have the pitching advantage in pretty much every series. Having Eddie Butler, Tyler Anderson and Carlos Hernandez is tough for any other Double-A club to overcome. Then you toss in guys like Ryan Arrowood and Jayson Aquino, and you've got quite a staff.

Midland sports Nate Long, who led the league in wins during the regular season. Again, though, the RockHounds posted a 2.31 earned run average to advance to the championship series.

Hitting

Advantage: Tulsa

Both clubs were middle of the pack in hitting during the regular season. Both actually recorded the same batting average, .252, during the regular season.

Tulsa enters the finals after hitting .256 to get past Arkansas. In 15 at-bats, Taylor Featherston had a .467 batting average. And both Featherston (.733) and Cristhian Adames (.727) slugged better than .700 against the Travelers.

Midland's Matt Chapman (.800) was the only RockHound with slugging percentage above .600.

As a team, Midland hit .226 against Frisco.

Defense

Advantage: Midland

Tulsa's defense can be questionable at times, despite having solid gloves in Featherston, Trevor Story, Adames and Tyler Massey.

Still, though, better to go with the RockHounds.

Intangibles

Advantage: Tulsa

The Drillers haven't won the Texas League crown since 1998, so they're due, right?

The games in Midland could get interesting, considering Midland was 40-30 at home this season and Tulsa was 39-31 on the road.

Side note: How crazy would it be if these two teams faced off in the finals next year, and Tulsa was with the Oakland Athletics and Midland was with the Colorado Rockies. Both clubs become Tulsa and Midland become minor league free agents once the playoffs are over.

However, it's not likely to happen. But hey, you never know.

Prediction: Tulsa in 4. Why not?