Texas Rangers, Astros Rivalry May Be Heated Between Fans, But Players Playing It Cool
ARLINGTON — Nathaniel Lowe got a window into how deep the rivalry goes between fans of the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros.
During his first year with the Rangers in 2021 he was playing golf on an off day in Houston when an Astros fan approached him with some choice words.
"It's a heated rivalry," the Rangers first baseman said. "I understand why there's some animosity, but for me personally, other than losing to those guys more than I want to, there's not too much I have invested in that."
If there is any real bad blood between the two teams on the field, the Rangers players are keeping it to themselves ahead of the team's first postseason showdown in the ALCS. The series begins with Game 1 at 7:15 p.m. Sunday at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
There's no denying the rivalry is heated. They've been division foes since the Astros joined the AL West in 2013. On at least three occasions the benches have cleared during regular-season games in Houston, including July 26. No punches were thrown, but batters were hit, dugouts were warned, and the Rangers' Marcus Semien and Astros' Martin Maldonado were ejected.
Do these teams hate each other?
"You know what, you may have to ask all of them," Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. "It's the way baseball should be, I guess. They're your opponent, so I don't think it should be a love fest out there. Do you?"
Not at all, Bruce. Fans for both teams are definitely ready to take it to the streets if social media exchanges are any indication. There has always been a Dallas-Fort Worth vs. Houston rivalry, regardless of our sports teams.
"I think it's just two competitive teams that want to win. We both believe we're champion-caliber teams," Rangers Mitch Garver said. "I think the fans make it about Texas more than the players do. We play in the same division, we see each other a lot, there's going to be some scuffles here and there. It's just two teams that believe they're the best."
The organizations, however, haven't exactly been best buds over the years. The Astros accused the Rangers of leaving the team and city of Houston in the lurch in the wake of Hurricane Havey in 2017. The Rangers disputed how the Astros characterized the situation and the teams played a neutral-site series in Tampa Bay. And then two weeks ago with the AL West title on the line, the Astros' social media account took some thinly veiled shots at the Rangers' celebration in Seattle after clinching a postseason berth.
In contrast, the Astros made a simple toast after doing the same in Arizona. Rangers general manager Chris Young took issue with the way an Astros MLB.com beat writer portrayed the club's celebration as if they were less concerned with winning the AL West by winning in the regular-season finale. Texas lost and the Astros won on the final day — both finishing 90-72 — and Houston won the West by virtue of a 9-4 head-to-head edge with Texas.
"I know every series has been hard-fought," Rangers catcher Jonah Heim said. "All I can say to the fans is, try to be nice and no harsh words. It's going to be fun, it;s going to be exciting."
Bochy believes both teams will be too intent on winning to let any regular-season shenanigans take their eyes off the ball with the World Series on the line.
"I think you move forward. There's a lot of intensity. And I'd say we're rivals," said Bochy, who predicted more bench-clearing moments in the future, if not in the ALCS. "There's going to be a lot of intensity involved in the games and that's going to happen. It won't be the last time it happens, I'm sure. It's going to be a great series, an all-Texas series. It's going to be a lot of run out there."
The Rangers are the up-and-coming team compared to the playoff-proven Astros who are playing in their AL-record seventh consecutive ALCS and looking for their third World Series title in the past seven seasons.
"They are the reigning champions so you have to give them respect for that ... but I'd say we have as equally a chance to win as they do," Garver said.
The Rangers are trying to return to the World Series for the third time and first since 2011, and are still seeking their first World Series title.
Lowe raised some eyebrows -- and some ire in Houston -- when he said in March that the AL West was the Rangers' to lose.
"I'm sure some people said some pretty nice things in my in-box," he joked. "But it was March in Pittsburgh, there's no reason why any player on any roster should doubt that the division is theirs to lose. So do I have to eat my words and say that it wasn't our division? Maybe a little, but we did lose it and I believe if we had done some things better over the course of the season we could have really run away with it. But that's hindsight now. We're in a good position to compete for a World Series and we like our chances going into Sunday."
Lowe was in the middle of the July scuffle in Houston when a Framber Valdez fastball whizzed by his head. Texas faced him a month later in Arlington when the Astros swept the Rangers and outscored them 39-10.
"They beat the brakes off us," Lowe said. "I don't expect anything to get too out of hand like [July 26]. We've got our work cut out for us. It's going to be loud, there might be some theatrics here and there. Their catcher [Maldanodo] is a real gamesman, so whether he says hello before the first at-bat will probably dictate how he acts for the entire series but we're going to compete. We're going to play hard.
"They have a good team over there. We have a good team in this clubhouse. Sure, emotions are going to get involved," he said. "It's hard not to with the way the fanbases interact. But if we play too many emotional games we're going to lose sight of winning one pitch at a time and we're at our best when we win one pitch at a time."
You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.
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