Three Texas Rangers for Houston Astros to Watch in ALCS

The Houston Astros should keep an eye on these Texas Rangers with the ALCS starting on Sunday.

The Texas Rangers are seeking their first World Series appearance since 2011 when they take on the rival Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series, with Game 1 on Sunday night at Minute Maid Park.

The two teams are, naturally, familiar with one another, as they played 13 games against each other in the regular season. But they’ve never faced each other in the postseason.

Given that familiarity, here are three Rangers that have the potential to give the Astros problems in the best-of-seven series.

Rangers to Watch vs. Astros

Here are three Texas Rangers that worth keeping an eye on as they face the Houston Astros in the ALCS.

Corey Seager

The talk around the Rangers is about "Postseason Corey Seager." There are few players on the Rangers roster that have Seager’s extensive postseason experience. With the Los Angeles Dodgers, he went to the postseason six times in seven seasons and was the MVP of both the National League Championship Series and World Series in 2020, which were played at Globe Life Field.

To some, his comfort at GLF — where the Rangers will host up to three games — was part of his rationale for signing with the Rangers two offseason ago.

He’s been hot this postseason and is just one reason why the Rangers are 5-0 in the playoffs entering the ALCS.

After he slashed .500/.600/.875/1.475 with three doubles, two RBI and two walks against the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wild Card round, he slashed .333/.733/.833/1.567 with one home run and one RBI in three games against the Baltimore Orioles in the ALDS.

If the run production against the O’s seems tepid for Seager, it should be noted that he set a playoff record with nine walks in three postseason games, including an intentional walk.

Andrew Heaney

Even with the activation of Max Scherzer and Jon Gray, both right-handers, it’s likely the Astros will see Heaney at some point in this series. The Astros are quite familiar with the lefty, as he’s started against the Astros four times this season. Heaney has put up solid numbers in each start.

Heaney threw shutout baseball in his first two starts against Houston, which totaled 10 innings. He gave up three runs in each of his last two starts against the Astros. He also struck out at least eight Houston hitters in two of those games.

The batting average of the current Astros lineup against Heaney doesn’t look great at .261. But he has an interesting history with a pair of left-handed batters that could define the series for Houston — Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker.

Alvarez has faced Heaney 14 times, has a .286 averaged but has never homered off Heaney. Tucker, meanwhile, has just 10 at-bats and has a .100 batting average. Naturally, that one hit was a home run.

Scherzer’s activation likely means Heaney wouldn’t make a start until at least Game 4. But he could end up coming out of the bullpen. Either way, he’s a pitcher that, even in a small sample size, could make a difference in the series.

Evan Carter

Carter was asked on Thursday what his biggest high school rivalry was. He said it was a school named Science Hill in Johnson City, Tenn.

This rivalry will be a wee bit bigger. But Carter doesn’t appear fazed at all by a postseason he was thrown into after three weeks in the Major Leagues.

He’s slashed .429/.619/.857/1.476 with one home run and three RBI in five games. His plate discipline is flat unnatural for a rookie in the postseason. He has more walks (six) than strikeouts (three). He regularly works pitchers to full counts. And his defense in left field is Gold Glove-level (and he won a minor league Gold Glove in 2022).

He’s never faced the Astros. The Astros have never faced him. The matchup could be a wild card for both sides.

2023 ALCS schedule

Game 1: Sunday: Texas at Houston, 7:15 p.m. (Fox)

Game 2: Monday: Texas at Houston, 3:37 p.m. (Fox or FS1)

Game 3: Wednesday: Houston at Texas, 7:03 p.m. (FS1)

Game 4: Thursday: Houston at Texas, 7:03 p.m. (FS1)

Game 5*: Friday: Houston at Texas, 4:07 p.m. (FS1)

Game 6*: Sunday, Oct. 22: Texas at Houston, 7:03 p.m. (FS1)

Game 7*: Monday, Oct. 23: Texas at Houston, 7:03 p.m. (Fox/FS1)

*If necessary

Houston Astros to Watch in ALCS

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.

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