ARLINGTON, Texas — It’s early, and we’ll keep saying that until June because Major League Baseball’s season is long, and just because something is happening in April doesn’t necessarily mean it will continue throughout the entire season.
For instance, the Texas Rangers are currently leading the American League West Division at 9-6, while the defending World Series Champion, Houston Astros, are 7-9.
Last season, the Astros found themselves looking up at the Los Angeles Angels for the first month of the season before taking over the division lead and never looking back.
Right now, the Rangers are not only leading the division, but they went into Houston this weekend and won two out of three games which doesn’t usually happen. In fact, the last time it happened was in 2018.
Last season, Houston finished 14-5 against the Rangers, and since 2019, they’re 6-30 in Houston, so escaping Minute Maid Park with a series win is a big deal, even if it’s only mid-April.
Brice Paterik, the host of the Locked On Rangers podcast, discussed this series win on the latest episode of his show.
“This team feels different. It really does," Paterik said. "I’ve been saying it all off-season. This is just a completely different team from top to bottom (including manager Bruce Bochy). You look at how few of these guys have been here for the last few years. How many new names are being brought in from the pitching staff to these big-money hitters like Marcus Semien and Corey Seager.”
He added, “It’s a completely new team that hasn’t suffered through most of the bad memories and terribleness the Rangers have suffered at the hands of the Houston Astros.”
We already mentioned how the Rangers went 5-14 against the Astros in 2022 but they also went 5-14 against them in 2021. And in 2018, the last time the Rangers won a series in Minute Maid Park, they finished 7-12 against the Astros.
Paterik said that some people were quick to point out that the Astros were without Jose Altuve and Michael Brantley this weekend—they’ll be without Altuve for a while after he broke his thumb in the WBC. But the Rangers also were without two major players this weekend as well.
Corey Seager, who will be out for at least a month with a hamstring strain, and Mitch Garver, who should be back from the 10-IL in time for the Rangers’ series against the A’s this coming weekend in Texas.
What made this series so exciting for the Rangers and their fans was that Sunday’s game was close.
The game was tied 0-0 heading into the seventh inning. A combination of starter Andrew Heaney and reliever Brock Burke kept the Astros from scoring, and Framber Valdez kept the Rangers off the board until he surrendered a double by Nathaniel Lowe and a single by Josh Jong, which sandwiched an E6 that allowed Adolis Garcia to reach base.
Then Jonah Heim worked a bases-loaded walk to put the Rangers up 1-0. Robbie Grossman followed that up with a single, knocking Valdez out of the game.
The bases were still loaded, and after Astros’ reliever Hector Neris got a flyball and a strikeout, Marcus Semien, one of those big-money hitters Paterik mentioned on his show, hit a grand slam into the Crawford Boxes in leftfield and broke the game open, putting the Rangers up 6-0.
They went on to win the game 9-1 and win the series.
So, yes, it’s early in the season, but this was a big series win for the Rangers, who have struggled for years against the Houston Astros and who are looking to make things more interesting in the American League West Division.
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