Astros feel at home in other Texas ballpark with World Series champ as Lone Star rivalry renews.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – The Houston Astros will feel quite at home when on the road for the first time this season in the other Texas ballpark with a World Series champion.
A week into the new season after the Rangers won baseball’s ultimate prize, even after two-time world champion Houston was again the AL West champion, the Lone Star State division rivals open a four-game series Friday night. They last met in the American League Championship Series when the visiting team won all seven games in October, a month after Houston wrapped up the regular-season series by hitting 16 homers and scoring 39 runs in an obliterating three-game sweep at Globe Life Field.
“You hear the guys talking about how well they see the ball there and how much success they´ve had there in the past,” said new Astros manager Joe Espada, their bench coach the past six seasons.
“The goal is to go out there and win. Go out there and win like we always have in the past,” Houston slugger Yordan Alvarez said in Spanish through an interpreter. “There´s no bad blood there. Obviously, they´re the champs from last year that played some good baseball.”
Houston was 9-1 overall last year in the Rangers’ home ballpark, outscoring them by 42 runs in those games. The last was Game 5 of the ALCS, when there was a bench-clearing fracas before Jose Altuve’s three-run homer in the ninth inning gave the Astros a 5-4 victory and the series lead. After three home losses in as many days, the Rangers won twice more at Minute Maid Park to clinch their first AL pennant since 2011.
“It’s good for the game,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said about the expected atmosphere when the rivalry is renewed. “I´m sure there´s going to be a lot of hoopla and excitement for this series.”
