St. Petersburg, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays are impressed with, though not intimidated by Cliff Lee’s glittering postseason resume.

The AL East champions beat the Texas Rangers ace three times during the regular season and will send 19-game winner David Price to the mound against him today in the opener of the AL playoffs. The game is set for 12:30 p.m.

“Cliff Lee’s one of the top five pitchers in all of baseball. He’s done it at this time of the year as well as anybody possibly could,” Rays manager Joe Maddon said, alluding to the left-hander’s October run with Philadelphia in 2009.

Acquired from Cleveland at the trade deadline, Lee went 4-0 with a 1.56 earned-run average in five postseason starts for the Phillies. He was 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA in two starts against the New York Yankees in last year’s World Series.

The 32-year-old began this season with the Seattle Mariners, who dealt him in early July to Texas, which was looking to bolster its rotation with a No. 1 starter capable of leading the Rangers deep into the postseason.

“He’s their anchor. … They’ve got that rolling, but I like our first-game guy a lot, too,” Maddon said. “He may not have as much experience as Cliff has had at this point, but I think he’s right there with him in regards to his stuff and pitch ability right now. Cliff Lee’s had that experience, but we’ve got kind of a special guy, too.”

Price is making his first postseason start two years after playing in a key role in Tampa Bay’s improbable run to the World Series. Less than a month after being promoted from the minor leagues, the young left-hander came out of the bullpen to get the final four outs against Boston in Game 7 of the AL championship series.

In this, Price’s first full season in the majors, the 25-year-old has set club records for wins (19) and ERA (2.72) and became the first Tampa Bay pitcher to start an All-Star game.