The American League will go through Texas. After a grueling regular season and a stressful postseason, the two remaining AL teams — the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers — both hail from the Lone Star state.
They reached this point in the season in vastly different ways. The Rangers rose back to prominence this year after flexing their financial muscles. Marcus Semien and Corey Seager were brought in on mega deals before the 2022 season. That didn’t stop the team from acquiring Max Scherzer and his big 2024 salary at the trade deadline.
The Astros spend money, too, but the team has mostly been a consistent contender thanks to its homegrown core. Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez once again find themselves excelling this postseason.
The Astros’ crew has been in this position more recently, but the upstart Rangers shouldn’t be slept on. Jordan Montgomery will take the hill for Texas on Sunday, while Justin Verlander gets the call for Houston in what should be an excellent start to a fantastic series.
Follow along as Yahoo Sports provides the latest news, scores and highlights as the Astros and Rangers kick off the ALCS with Game 1 on Sunday.
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Rangers go down 1-2-3 in the top of the eighth. Still 2-0 Texas.
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Jordan Montgomery exits after 6 1/3 innings: 5 hits, 6 strikeouts, 1 walk, zero runs allowed.
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JNeris gets Marcus Semien to pop out, and the inning is over. Rangers, 2-0 in the seventh.
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Justin Verlander is done after 6 2/3 innings. A Leody Taveras single to put runners on first and second with two outs ended his day. A strong outing from Verlander, but he leaves in line to take the loss.
Final line: 6 2/3 innings pitched, 6 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts and 2 earned runs. Rangers lead, 2-0. Hector Neris takes over on the mound.
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Montgomery counters with a 1-2-3 inning of his own. Pitching a shutout through six. 2-0, Rangers.
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Quick work from Justin Verlander in another 1-2-3 inning to get out of the sixth. Rangers, 2-0 in the middle of the inning.
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Another two-out at-bat for Yordan Álvarez. Another strikeout by Jordan Montgomery. He got him swinging with another sweeping curveball that dove below the zone. That’s three inning-ending strikeouts of Álvarez in three at-bats. Still 2-0 Rangers after 5.
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Leody Taveras absolutely crushed this one. The Rangers outfielder and No. 9 hitter smoked a 1-2 slider off of Justin Verlander into the right-field stands for a solo home run. 2-0 Rangers in the fifth.
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