Rivals at Last! The Texas Rangers and Houston Astros Play for a Spot in the World Series

After decades of wanting it to happen, baseball fans in Texas might finally see their wish granted: a genuine rivalry between the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros. The complete makings of a bitter baseball brotherhood have finally arrived, now that the two teams will face off in the playoffs for the first time. This comes after the Rangers’ ALDS victory over the Baltimore Orioles and the Astros’ defeat of the Minnesota Twins.

Sports rivalries can’t be forced. Just as respect and hate aren’t things one feels for another person immediately on first meeting, a true rivalry has to mature over time, be galvanized in the fire of meaningful confrontations. The two Texas teams have shared history, but not overwhelmingly dramatic history, even after all these years of being in such close proximity to one another.

Playing in the same state certainly helps, but that’s not all that is required, of course. If that were the case, the Cowboys and Houston Texans, or the Houston Oilers before them, would’ve been rivals, yet they really never were. No, you gotta play one another when something’s on the line.

As odd as it sounds, there hasn’t been much fuel for a fiery Rangers vs. Astros rivalry until very recently. For starters, the Astros played in the National League from their beginning as the Colt .45s in 1962, while the Rangers have always been in the American League. So, from then until 1997, the two clubs couldn’t possibly face each other unless they both made the World Series, which we all know never happened.

But for the past couple of decades, the Texas teams have been able to compete against each other in the regular season thanks to the advent of inter-league play in 1997. Since 2001, they’ve competed for the “Silver Boot,” a relatively meaningless trophy awarded to the team who wins the most regular season games between the two each season.

The ALCS is SET�️

It's an AL West showdown between the Astros and Rangers � pic.twitter.com/3DB2BSGWt2

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 12, 2023

To be fair, since the Astros moved to the American League West alongside the Rangers a decade ago, some of their regular season contests have been momentous. But unlike the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, probably baseball’s highest-profile, most storied rivalry, the ‘Stros and Rangers haven’t had those impactful October moments that either empower or embarrass a fanbase for generations to come.

That’s not to say things haven’t been trending in this direction in recent years though. The Astros were dreadful during the Rangers’ back-to-back World Series runs in 2010 and 2011. Similarly, the Rangers have not been very good since 2017, when the Astros won the first of their two World Series titles. But the fact that they play in the same division and have now both seen true success makes it fun to keep up with their interactions.

Just because the teams haven’t shared any dramatic Fall moments, doesn’t mean there’s any love or even ambivalence between the two sides. Hall of Fame fireballer Nolan Ryan, the very essence of who people think of when they imagine a “Texas ballplayer,” spent time with both clubs during his playing days, as well as post-career. He served as Rangers president and CEO, 2008-2013, then worked as a “special assistant” for the Astros, 2014-2019.

Notice the years he was with both clubs in a management role. What do they have in common? Both stints featured World Series appearances while Ryan was in the front office. Check with a few of your local buddies about what went wrong for the home team and what went right for the Astros, and the sore subject of Ryan’s departure will come up sooner than later, we guarantee.

As much as anything else, it has also helped that the Astros have become the team baseball fans love to hate, even more than the aforementioned Yankees. After the 2019 season was complete, Houston found itself in the middle of one of the biggest cheating scandals in American pro sports history. According to reports, during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, players on the team used an elaborate scheme involving video and, yes, the banging of trash cans, to alert their batters to which pitch was coming their way in real time in order to gain an advantage and hit a hell of a lot of home runs.

The budding rivalry was strengthened a bit on the field this year, even before the playoffs. Thanks to a strong second half by Houston, the Rangers and the Astros were in a dead heat for the division title going into the final week of the season. On the final Sunday, the Rangers lost and the Astros won, giving Houston yet another AL West title, their sixth of the last seven years. The Rangers settled for playing in the Wild Card round (which went pretty well, as we know).

The Rangers partied last night while the Astros had a champagne toast and quickly turned their attention to Sunday and one more win. Houston's "been-there, done-that" mentality paid off, it seems.

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) October 1, 2023

To a considerable extent that pivotal final week carried a playoff vibe to it, and if you squinted, it felt as though the Rangers were battling the Astros, not the teams they actually were playing against, the Los Angeles Angels and the Seattle Mariners. And when Astros beat reporter Brian McTaggart suggested the Rangers lost their division lead on the final day because the team had celebrated qualifying for the playoffs too much the night before, well, Ranger fans had a new reason to despise their in-state rival.

All that’s left now is for the Rangers and Astros to finally take the field against each other for the American league title and a spot in the World Series. Here’s what to know:

What the Experts Are Saying

According to the DraftKings sportsbook, the Astros are favored to win the series, but not by much. Right now, their betting line sits as Astros -140 and the Rangers +120.

The staff predictions for sports site The Athletic favors the Rangers just slightly over the defending World Series champs with staff writer Eno Sarris writing, “The Rangers’ lineup is inevitable.” The folks at CBS Sports are split, with 3 of 6 baseball writers picking the Rangers to advance. Should future Hall of Fame pitcher Max Scherzer move to the Rangers’ ALCS roster from the injured list, where he’s been for the past few weeks, a few more predictions might tip to Texas’ favor.

Head-to-Head in 2023

Although both teams finished with the same 90-72 regular season record, the Astros claimed the division title on the strength of their 9-4 record against the Rangers this year. Houston outscored the Rangers by fewer than 20 runs stretched out over the 13 games, with both clubs nabbing a couple of significant blowout victories.

American League Championship Series Schedule

• Game 1: Rangers at Astros, Sunday, Oct. 15, FOX/FS1
• Game 2: Rangers at Astros, Monday, Oct. 16, FOX/FS1
• Game 3: Astros at Rangers, Wednesday, Oct. 18, FOX/FS1
• Game 4: Astros at Rangers, Thursday, Oct. 19, FOX/FS1
• Game 5: Astros at Rangers, Friday, Oct. 20, FOX/FS1 (if necessary)
• Game 6: Rangers at Astros, Sunday, Oct. 22, FOX/FS1 (if necessary)
• Game 7: Rangers at Astros, Monday, Oct. 23, FOX/FS1 (if necessary)