HOUSTON — The Houston Astros dominated the Texas Rangers during the regular season, winning nine of 13 matchups between the American League West Division clubs.
Now the Rangers get another chance at the Astros when they meet in the playoffs for the first time ever, a Texas-sized showdown with a trip to the World Series on the line starting Sunday night in Houston.
The Astros completed the regular-season series against the Rangers with a three-game sweep at the beginning of September. Houston hit 16 homers in that trilogy while outscoring Texas 39-10.
Despite the lopsided results so far in 2023, both teams say they’ll start with a clean slate for the best-of-seven AL Championship Series.
“Regular season doesn’t mean anything anymore,” said veteran right-hander Justin Verlander, Houston’s starting pitcher for the opener. “And I think it’s a different game. Playoffs is a different brand of baseball.”
That series in September was during the worst slump of the season for the Rangers, who were without third baseman Josh Jung and who lost Adolis García during the series. Texas first baseman Nathaniel Lowe also noted that 21-year-old outfielder Evan Carter wasn’t even in the majors the last time the Rangers met the Astros.
“I think we were missing two or three bats, two or three starting bats. Evan was still in high school,” Lowe joked. “We had a couple pieces that weren’t fully, fully firing on all pistons.”
Houston’s success in the head-to-head matchup allowed the Astros to win the AL West title while the Rangers ended up with a wild card — and had to play in the first round of the postseason — after both teams finished with 90-72 records.
Now both teams are back to full strength and prepared to fight for the Lone Star State crown.
This isn’t the first time Houston manager Dusty Baker has experienced a high-stakes, in-state postseason matchup. As manager of the San Francisco Giants in 2002, he lost the World Series to the Anaheim Angels.
“In California we were in the World Series, two teams, us and the Angels, battling for bragging rights in California,” he said. “But everything is bigger in Texas. I’ve learned that since I’ve been here.”
Outfielder Robbie Grossman is in his first season with the Rangers but is well acquainted with the rivalry — still fairly new, considering the Astros didn’t move from the National League to the AL until a decade ago — after going to high school in suburban Houston and spending his first three MLB seasons with the Astros.
“It’s huge for baseball, but it’s even bigger for the state of Texas,” he said. “Just being a Texan, I know how much both these teams mean to the state.”
AP photo by Tony Gutierrez / Mitch Garver celebrates after hitting a two-run double for the Texas Rangers in the second inning of Game 3 of an AL Division Series against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.Verlander, who helped the Astros win the World Series last fall, returned to Houston in a July trade from the New York Mets. On Sunday night, the 40-year-old pitcher will make the 36th playoff start of his career. The three-time Cy Young Award winner threw six scoreless innings in the AL Division Series opener against the Minnesota Twins to extend his franchise record with his 10th postseason win.
The Rangers — the AL’s No. 5 seed, with Houston No. 2 — will counter on the mound with left-hander Jordan Montgomery.
This will be the fourth playoff start for Montgomery and his third this season. Acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals this summer, he has had an inconsistent postseason after throwing seven scoreless innings in the wild-card sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays before allowing four earned runs and nine hits in just four innings in Game 2 of the ALDS against the top-seeded Baltimore Orioles.
He talked about his struggles against the Orioles.
“Everything was a little unsynced up,” he said. “So just got to find my timing and execute more pitches.”
Astros lefty Framber Valdez opposes Rangers righty Nathan Eovaldi in Game 2 on Monday, also in Houston.
Down the line, Texas starter Max Scherzer is expected to return for this series after being out since Sept. 12 because of a shoulder muscle strain.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner, also traded from the Mets this summer, said he was “ready to go” after throwing a bullpen session and doing fielding drills Friday. On Saturday, Texas manager Bruce Bochy was asked if Scherzer would be included on the ALCS roster, which won’t be revealed until Sunday.
“Max is doing well,” Bochy said. “He’s done well. After workout today, we get together, we’ll get the staff, of course, (general manager) Chris Young and his staff, and we’ll talk about the roster. But he’s doing really well.”
Scherzer is 7-7 with a 3.58 ERA in 27 postseason games that include 22 starts. If he appears for Rangers, it would be the fifth team he has pitched for in the postseason. The others are the Mets, Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers.
The bullpens will obviously be vital as well, and Houston reliever Bryan Abreu enters the ALCS with a 31-inning scoreless streak in his past 30 appearances. Abreu, who hasn’t allowed a run since July 18, hasn’t been scored on in the postseason in 14 2/3 innings, which spans 14 appearances dating to last year.
Abreu, who normally pitches the eighth inning before handing things off to closer Ryan Pressly, has allowed two hits in 3 1/3 innings over three appearances this postseason.
“As a pitcher you just have to be calm and be ready to execute every single pitch and keep attacking the strike zone,” he said. “If you let everything outside go through your head … you’ll lose focus.”