By Cameron Brock
KTXT Sports Staff
Seventeen years ago, the only way the Texas Rangers would play a meaningful game against the Houston Astros was if both teams made it to the World Series.
Times have changed.
Minute Maid Park will host its first ever American League game on ESPN’s annual Opening Night Baseball Game on March 31 at 7:05 p.m.
Rangers’ first basemen Mitch Moreland is looking forward to making the trip down Interstate 45.
“It’s good to have an in-division rival where, you know, you don’t have to travel as much and we can go down there and play a few times and vice versa.” Moreland said. “It’s going to be fun to have them in there.”
Regular season interleague play started in the 1997 season. That year, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays did not exist. The Milwaukee Brewers were an American League team.
In 1998, the two expansion teams came in, and the National League Central grew to six teams including the Astros.
The Lone Star Series started regular season play in 2001.
Since its inception, the Rangers have held the Silver Boot nine out of the 12 years with a 42-30 record against the Astros.
The Rangers have dominated the series recently holding the boot for six straight seasons.
With the Astros moving to the AL West, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig decided to make interleague play an everyday thing. All six divisions will have five teams to even out the schedule.
Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux said the interleague change-up will be intriguing.
“You know, it’s going to make baseball a little bit different with interleague play every day,” Maddux said. “That’ll be interesting.”
For those new to the game, the American League and National League have different rules.
In the NL, pitchers must bat or they are not allowed back onto the mound. The AL features a designated hitter in the place of a pitcher.
The designated hitter has allowed power hitters and injury prone superstars to lengthen their careers.
David Ortiz, Travis Hafner and Edgar Martinez are some of the more well-known designated hitters.
The Astros struggled on offense in 2012 ranking last in runs and hit more home runs than only three AL teams, all of which were in the central division and had losing records.
Moreland said he enjoys beating every team, but pleasing the fans makes winning sweeter.
“I know it’s really big with the fan base. Hopefully, we can come out on the good end of that and please the fans.”
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