The stage is set for the American League Championship series. It’s officially a Texas show-down between the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros. The winner of the ALCS heads to the World Series.
The Texas Rangers will take on the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park in Houston on Sunday at 7:15 p.m. in the first game of the American League Championship Series.
The in-state rivalry is getting heated as the baseball fans in the Lone Star State find themselves aligning with their favorite teams. While the Rangers and Astros have met plenty of times in the regular season -- this is the first time the teams have ever met in the post season.
"I wanted them to play each other like head-on, it's so exciting," said Sophia Murphy, a Rangers fan.
Murphy and her husband, Justin, have been together for years, but married for the past two years. She grew up in North Texas and he's originally from the Houston area and is an Astros fan.
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The Dallas couple usually experiences the rivalry of their two teams in the regular season and attend at least one game, but now that it's postseason, they're really experiencing a divided house.
"His mom texted us because obviously, his family are Astros fans, she texted us as soon as they won and she said, 'Oh, it's game on now!' and I was like, 'Let's do it!' So it's been just exciting," said Murphy who looks forward to the friendly taunting.
"Yeah, the family group texts are popping off, so much trash-talking," said Justin and Sophia. "[We]Try to be a good sport about it."
Now that both of their teams are squaring off in the ALCS, with the winner headed to the World Series, their house is divided, even when it comes to the dogs. One wears an Astros jersey and the other wears a Rangers one.
Currently, there's peace in the home, but there is a little bet the couple has going on. Their 7-month-old son, Fares, has found himself in the middle of a wager.
"Early in the season, we were trying to decide who his favorite baseball team was going to be, who we were going to raise him as. It went back-and-forth and I said, 'Let's make a bet, that whichever team gets the farthest this year in playoffs the whole season, whoever does the best can be his favorite team till he tells us otherwise." said Sophia who echoed her friends agree their son should be a Rangers fan since he was born in Dallas.
"We'll see what happens. I can't really stress anything until the series is over," said Justin.
The pair said it's all fun and games and they've been in similar situations regarding other sports teams.
"My patience has been tested. Yeah, we've already been through that, so this is going to be easy for us, at least for me," said Justin. "We'll see," laughed his wife.
It's a historic Texas-sized baseball moment the families will get to share together.
“It's been special to like, share this with him (their son) and we have so many pictures of him watching baseball now and we have pictures of him in Astros stuff with his dad and Rangers stuff with me and his grandparents and getting to share that, the excitement with him. It's been so much fun but then having it compounded with both teams we love you know, he's just going to think baseball is so fun for the rest of his life," said Sophia
