World Series Game 5, Giants Vs. Rangers: Despite Deficit, Texas Fans Optimistic

In no best-of-seven series do you ever want to find yourself behind 3-1. It's not the worst possible situation, but it's close, and even based on a simple 50/50 coin flip, the odds are only 12.5% that you'll be able to come back to win. A team that's behind three games to one is, simply, a very long shot.

But via our Rangers blog Lone Star Ball, author Adam Morris presents a couple reasons why he's altogether feeling pretty good coming into Monday's Game 5:

I will say this...I don't find myself nearly as upset or as bothered by being down 3-1 as a lot of folks are, or even as much as I would have thought I would be.  Part of that, I think, is that with this team, as I've said before, I feel like we're playing with house money.  This team is seeing its championship window just now opening, it is well positioned to compete for several years, and not many folks before the season thought the Rangers would even with the A.L. West.  Just seeing the Rangers in the World Series, something I've been waiting for for almost 40 years, with this team never even getting close, takes a lot of the sting out.

But the other thing about it is that I don't think this series is over.  We have Cliff Lee going tonight.  We have a team that has bounced back time and time again when things have gone badly.  I have confidence that the Rangers will not let San Francisco celebrate a world championship in Arlington.

Click through for the whole post. Adam's right - with Cliff Lee taking the hill, this series isn't over. And even if the Rangers lose tonight, 2010 won't be the last time they're heard from. That's a team that stands to be relevant for a good many years.