The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers went head to head on Oct. 23 for the American League Championship Series. The Astros had home field advantage, but they are known to lose on their own diamond. The series ended in the Rangers eliminating the Astros in Game 7 with a score of 11-4. This advanced the Rangers to the World Series, which will be played against the Arizona Diamondbacks, making it the Rangers third time in the World Series since 2011.
From the jump, the Rangers were bringing in runs. In only the first inning the Rangers’ star shortstop Corey Seager hit a bomb to right center field to put a run on board. The Rangers followed this by bringing in another two runs later in the inning to lead with a score of 3-0. The Astros pushed back in the first three innings bringing in two runs, one being a home run by Alex Bregman, the Astros’ third baseman. But a report from ABC points out how that didn’t seem to stop the Rangers. They drove in five more runs, making it seem like a one sided game. In the seventh inning, Rangers’ Nathaniel Lowe hit a two run home run, but Astros star Yordan Álvarez pushed back with a hit, resulting in an RBI that brought Bregman home. Adolis García from the Rangers has been hot all throughout the series, and that streak continued in Game 7. He hit a home run, putting the game at 11-3. In the ninth inning, the Astros had their last shot to come back. It seemed that they never got going throughout the whole game, due to how their star player José Altuve had been the most unstoppable in the series, but didn’t do much for his team this game. For the Astros Last chance, Jose LeClerc hit a solo home run. The game ended with a groundout from Marcus Semien to end the series, making the Texas Rangers the ALCS champions and leading to Adolis García winning ALCS MVP.
Throughout this whole series, both teams were unstoppable. Both put up outstanding numbers each game, but it came down to one team. There were clearly unsolved problems, when in game 5 Astros reliever Bryan Abrue hit Adolis García, who previously hit a home run. Him and catcher Martin Maldonado got into a huge argument leading to a fight that required interventions from both teams, which ended up in García and Astros Manager Dusty Baker being thrown out of the game. There didn’t seem to be any grudges held in game 7, they just wanted to prove each other wrong. And the Rangers did just that, by showing the Astros what they’re all about by taking home the win.
