Rangers fans, cheer the Houston Astros for a series all Texans can all ‘celebrate’
Much to the probable dismay of the Houston Astros, the Texas Rangers went ahead and popped some champagne to celebrate their latest playoff-series win.
After sweeping their second consecutive playoff opponent on Tuesday night against Baltimore, the Rangers are in the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2011. That’s worthy of a Veuve pop.
We are now one win away from an all-Texas American League Championship Series. This will be a bomb for TV ratings, but that’s not our problem.
Now that the Rangers have dumped the Orioles out of the American League Division Series with a Game 3 7-1 win at Globe Life Mall, Major League Baseball just needs the Astros to defeat the Minnesota Twins once more for a real Texas two-step.
The Astros lead their ALDS series against the Twins 2-1. Game 4 is Wednesday in Minneapolis.
No matter how much a Rangers fan may despise all things Astros, and or the city of Houston, all Texans need to firmly be on the side of the Astros against the Twins.
“Could happen,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said after his portion of the celebration ended. “You don’t know.”
No, we don’t. What we do know is that a Texas Rangers versus Houston Astros American League Championship Series would be the most meaningful professional sports event ever between Houston and DFW.
It may be the one event that can end the Curse of Nolan Ryan. Actually, that’s a Rangers’ World Series win, which is now very much on the table.
Houston v. Texas means the Silver Boot. Celebration-gate. Altuve. Seager. Home electronic video equipment. Garbage cans. The Express. Two stadiums with roofs that can open, but don’t. Humidity.
We have seen some memorable series between the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks; in the 2015 NBA playoffs, the Mavs’ Rajon Rondo famously quit on his team (really, it was his coach) in their first round series, a Houston win.
There were some fun games, occasionally, between the Cowboys and Houston Oilers. On Thanksgiving Day in 1979, the Oilers upset the Cowboys at Texas Stadium when Oilers running back Earl Campbell ran 33 times for 195 and two touchdowns.
It was Oilers coach Bum Phillips who once said, “The Dallas Cowboys may be America’s Team, but the Houston Oilers are Texas’ team.”
Not sure about that but it’s a great line.
Bum’s “Luv Ya Blue” Oilers in the 1970s came close to seeing the Cowboys in the Super Bowl, but the Pittsburgh Steelers always seemed to prevent that meeting.
When the Houston Texans played their first ever game, in 2002, they hosted the Dave Campo-Cowboys and actually won, 19-10. After the game, Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Randy Galloway brilliantly wrote, “Fire everybody. Except the owner. Deport him.”
When the Astros and Rangers started out many decades ago, they were in opposite leagues. Before interleague play was introduced in 1997, their only chance to meet would have been in the World Series.
For anyone over the age of 40, it’s still a little odd to see the Astros playing in the American League rather than the National League West.
The Rangers and Astros started their little love fest back in 2001, when they played for the Silver Boot. The tradition never really did take hold, because when one team was good the other was usually God awful.
Now we are here in 2023, and because of garbage-can gate, there may not be a more despised baseball team in the land more than the Houston Astros. This includes the New York Yankees, and now the insufferable Boston Red Sox.
After the Rangers clinched their first playoff berth since 2016 on the second-to-last day of this season by winning in Seattle, they naturally celebrated. The Astros also clinched a postseason spot that night for the seventh consecutive season.
That evening, Houston Astros team reporter Brian McTaggart of MLB.com noted the difference between the two celebrations by Tweeting, “The Rangers partied last night while the Astros had a champagne toast and quickly turned their attention to Sunday and one more win.”
Rangers GM Chris Young called out the report and said it was an inaccurate portrayal of events; that the Rangers celebrated but turned it off once they realized the Astros won, which put the division title on the line in the last day of the regular season.
The ensuing, childish, moronic cat fighting between Rangers and Astros fans played out over social media, which led to some members of the Rangers media team to delete some of their social media apps.
This is all fun and games ‘til people start receiving vile threats over a game that is still supposed to be fun.
A Texas Rangers versus Houston Astros ALCS would be the most enjoyable of games.
If you’re a Texan, and or a Rangers fan, you need to be on the side of the Astros for one more win.
After that, it will really be “on,” as will the most meaningful baseball series in the history of this state.
