How Astros-Rangers rivalry defines the state of Texas
RYAN PRESSLY REMEMBERS how it felt to sit in the stands and watch the Texas Rangers play during the 2010 ALCS. He’s sitting inside Minute Maid Park’s news conference room, the shadow from the bill of his Houston Astros hat covers his eyes.
Pressly grew up in the Dallas area, a fan of the Rangers and especially Michael Young, and now he’s a relief pitcher for the Astros.
“I never thought I would be in this situation,” Pressly says. “I’m just thankful to be here.”
Even though he’s a popular player this series, he’s a man of few words. He doesn’t even have a social media account, saying he believes “in staying quiet and doing his job.”
“He likes to keep to himself,” Kat Pressly says of her husband. “He likes to be out on the ranch, be out in nature, go hunting. He doesn’t like a lot of attention or media around him.”
Since Ryan is focused on helping the Astros right the series, Kat’s the one in charge of getting tickets for his family when the games move to Arlington. She guesses they’ve gotten about 20 tickets, but since her phone keeps ringing — some of them calls from Ryan’s best friends — it’ll probably be much more than that by Wednesday night’s Game 3. Ryan’s told them all that since they’ll be sitting in the Astros’ family section, they can’t wear anything with the Rangers on it.
Asked if he’s excited about playing his childhood team, Ryan says he doesn’t see this series as anything different.
“It’s the same game. It just happens to be in my hometown,” he says.
JOSE RUIZ IS down on one knee looking up at the mural on the third base line outside of Minute Maid Park and taking pictures with his phone.
“You from Houston?” I ask.
“Hell yeah,” he says as he rises to his feet and straightens his orange-colored dress shirt with the Astros’ logo all over it. It’s hours before the start of the all-Texas ALCS.
“I got here in 1980,” Ruiz, 59, says. He’s originally from San Benito, about a five-hour drive from Houston. “Coming from a little town that didn’t have any pro teams, when I moved here, I said, ‘Well, at least I’m going to have some teams now.'”
When he moved here — and among the things he inherited was a dislike of Dallas — the Astros were bad. They did win the AL West in 1980, but never registered as annual contenders. He and his wife would pay $5 to watch them play inside the Astrodome and sit anywhere because there was hardly anyone there.
“I thought they were going to suck for the rest of my life, and I was OK with that,” Ruiz says. He made peace with it because that’s part of fandom. “There’s baseball fans who live and die and their team never wins a championship.”
Ruiz saw decades of bad baseball and figured that would be his experience too.
“Then they started getting good, and it was awesome,” Ruiz says.
He says that gave him bragging rights among his friends from Dallas. “They call me a cheater,” Ruiz says of his friends. “They won’t let it go.”
More than just his friends, it’s seemingly the entire league who believe the Astros are cheaters. Away from home, anywhere the Astros play, they get booed.
“It’s us against the world,” Ruiz says.
“I’VE ALWAYS BEEN less susceptible to mythology than most people,” Dr. Walter L. Buenger says. Before he became a history professor at the University of Texas, he grew up in Fort Stockton. If you consider it a big city, Odessa, of the famed “Friday Night Lights,” would be the closest one to Fort Stockton, about 90 minutes away.
“I have a different slant than many Texans,” Buenger says in a deep West Texas accent. His grandparents were German and his father grew up speaking German in Texas until he went to school. “I heard all these stories from my grandparents growing up about how the Germans were mistreated. How the Ku Klux Klan came after them in the 1920s.”
From a personal and intellectual perspective, he knows Texas is a complicated place. And perhaps no two cities are as complicated than where the Astros and Rangers play better encapsulate that tension.
“Going back to the 1890s, Houston and Dallas competed with each other,” Buenger says. The competition was in everything from the location of the National Reserve Bank, business deals and connections, and even who’d host the Texas Centennial.
Dallas beat Houston for a lot of those, including hosting the Texas Centennial. That event, he says, was a point of identity separation between Dallas and Houston. Before then, the non-Mexican parts of Texas viewed itself as more southern.
With the centennial came the State Fair of Texas. With that came Big Tex, the big cowboy at the center of the fair. Buenger calls Big Tex a proper symbol for Dallas in the 1930s. “Dallas is more diverse now,” he says. “But Houston has always been much more diverse in its demography.”
Dallas embraced the cowboy as its symbol of identity. For Houston it was oil. That difference, plus the historic competition, and two of the country’s largest cities being a four-hour drive apart, helped create the rivalry.
“It’s a myth,” Buenger says of Texas identity.
Because they’re malleable, those myths help erase the harsh past. That cotton and slavery helped create Houston, Dallas and the rest of the state. That the Rangers are named after a law enforcement agency that lynched Mexicans. That the first official baseball team is from Houston and the first official game got played in April 1868 on the same San Jacinto battleground where Texas won its independence from Mexico. That day, the Houston Stonewalls beat the Galveston Robert E. Lees 35-2.
“What happens in Texas is memory replaces reality,” Buenger says. “And memory is both remembering some things and forgetting others.”
“VERLANDER ISN’T DOING too good,” Jason Flores says of Houston pitcher Justin Verlander. It’s the sixth inning, the one after Leody Taveras hit a solo home run to give the Rangers an early series lead.
“But they’re getting it together,” Joel Flores says of the Astros. “They’re warming up.”
Jason and Joel are twin brothers. They’re watching the game on Joel’s cellphone as they stand near the front entrance of the Magnolia Hotel, a few blocks from Minute Maid Park, where they work as valets.
On October nights like these, when the Astros are at home, they get busy, mostly before and after the game when fans are coming and going.
“The garage gets packed,” Jason says. “We get guests who specifically come and check into the hotel for the game. They stay here a couple of days, as a long as the Astros as here.”
Jason and Joel are lifelong Astro fans, who love all things Houston and dislike Dallas, especially the Cowboys.
Because of that, they could care less if the Astros get booed away from home. As Jason explains, “I’m from Houston. That’s who I am, in and out, that’s my team.”
As we stand there, watching a few pitches on Joel’s phone of Game 1, I ask them to imagine the unthinkable.
“Let’s say the Rangers advance, do you cheer for them in the World Series since they’re a Texas team?”
“Nah,” Jason and Joel say, almost in unison.
“F— the Rangers,” Joel says. “If they win, I’m done. It’s on to the Texans.”
“I mean, of course I want Texas up there,” Jason adds. “But here, it’s Houston only.”
FOR ALMOST AS long as he can remember, Mark Espinoza’s been a fan of the Rangers. One of his first heartbreaking sports moments happened when he was 11 years old, watching the 2011 Rangers get within a strike of winning the World Series. Young Mark then watched that slip away over the outstretched glove of Nelson Cruz in right field.
“You just got to soak it in and accept it,” Espinoza says of that night.
There’s a contrast in him retelling that painful memory as he smiles because, a dozen years later, this is the closest the Rangers have gotten to winning it all since then. As he talks, he stands in front of a mural celebrating the Astros’ World Series titles. Across the street, on Texas Avenue, there are police on horseback next to a church with a sign on its fence that says, “Make it a spiritual double header! Catch mass and a game!”
Houston fans walk quietly past that sign, past the police and past Espinoza. As quiet now as they were loud in the 8th inning when Yordan Alvarez hit his second home run of the game and brought the Astros to within a run of the Rangers.
“I’ve never heard it that loud,” Espinoza says of the Houston crowd. “It’s different being in this stadium.”
He says he was cautiously optimistic before the series began because the Astros often beat the Rangers. But after the Game 2 win by the Rangers, that’s changed.
“We’re going for the sweep,” Espinoza says loud enough an Astros fan walking by slows as if he wants to say something but doesn’t.
“This is the Texas Rangers’ year.”
He hasn’t stopped smiling since the final out. He says it with the confidence of a fan who cheers for a team some didn’t expect to get this far. Now, the Rangers return home with a chance to clinch the series.
Seven of eight first-round series in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs have begun, and No. 8 gets rolling on Tuesday.
The Battle of Florida between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers begins anew (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), with both clubs looking like a legitimate Stanley Cup contender if they can survive the intrastate showdown.
Cats-Bolts is the third game of four Tuesday on the ESPN family of networks, following New Jersey–Carolina (6 p.m. ET, ESPN) and Ottawa–Toronto (7:30 p.m., ESPN2), and preceding the nightcap, Minnesota–Vegas (11 p.m. ET, ESPN).
What are the key storylines heading into Tuesday’s games? Who are the key players to watch?
Read on for game previews with statistical insights from ESPN Research, recaps of what went down Monday night, and the Three Stars of Monday Night from Arda Öcal.
Matchup notes
New Jersey Devils at Carolina Hurricanes
Game 2 (CAR leads 1-0) | 6 p.m. ET | ESPN
Game 1 sure did not go as planned for the Devils. A win at the legendarily loud Lenovo Center would’ve been stretching it, but losing Brenden Dillon, Cody Glass and Luke Hughes to injury was not an ideal outcome either.
They’ll hope to rebound Tuesday before the series shifts to Newark. Closing the shot attempt differential might help, as the famously possession-savvy Hurricanes held a 45-24 edge on shots on goal in Game 1.
For years, the knock on Carolina was that it lacked that one goal scorer who could get the Canes over the hump in the playoffs. Many observers thought the Canes had acquired such a player in Mikko Rantanen in January. Ironically, it was the player Carolina acquired in its subsequent trade of Rantanen to Dallas — Logan Stankoven — who scored two goals in Game 1. Will he add to that total in Game 2?
Of note heading into Tuesday’s game, the Devils have come back to win a playoff series after losing the first game 11 out of 26 times (42%); that figure drops to 20% if they fall behind 0-2. The Hurricanes have won six of their past seven series after winning Game 1.
Ottawa Senators at Toronto Maple Leafs
Game 2 (TOR leads 1-0) | 7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN2
The atmosphere was intense for Game 1, and the Maple Leafs’ “Core Four” led the way: Mitch Marner (one goal, two assists), William Nylander (one goal, one assist), John Tavares (one goal, one assist) and Auston Matthews (two assists) each filled up the scoresheet. A continuation of that output will obviously help Toronto overwhelm its provincial neighbor.
Slowing down the Maple Leafs could depend on discipline, according to Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk. “We took too many penalties, they scored on [them] and that’s the game,” Tkachuk told reporters after Game 1. “So that’s on us. We’ve got to be more disciplined.”
The Sens will also need to capitalize on their chances. According to Stathletes, Ottawa had five high-danger scoring chances in this game, and produced only two goals.
Florida Panthers at Tampa Bay Lightning
Game 1 | 8:30 p.m ET | ESPN
This is the fourth time that the two Sunshine State franchises have met in the postseason, and all four of the meetings have occurred since 2021.
In each instance, the winner of the series has gone on to reach the Stanley Cup Final — Lightning in 2021 and 2022; Panthers in 2024 — while the 2021 Lightning and 2024 Panthers won it all.
Unsurprisingly, Nikita Kucherov is Tampa Bay’s leading scorer against Florida, with 25 points (five goals, 20 assists) in 15 games. Aleksander Barkov is the Panthers’ leading scorer against the Lightning, with 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in 15 games.
The two teams split their meetings in the regular season, with the Lightning winning the most recent, 5-1 on April 15.
Minnesota Wild at Vegas Golden Knights
Game 2 (VGK leads 1-0) | 11 p.m. ET | ESPN
The underdog Wild set a physical tone to the series in Game 1, outhitting the Golden Knights 54-29, but the hosts emerged with a 4-2 victory. Tomas Hertl, Pavel Dorofeyev and Brett Howden (two) were the goal scorers for Vegas, and Matt Boldy was responsible for both Minnesota goals.
Howden, who had never scored double-digit goals until his 23 this season, earned praise from coach Bruce Cassidy after Game 1. “He didn’t change his game,” Cassidy told reporters. “He played physical. He’s part of our penalty kill. He’s always out when the goalie’s out, typically one of the six guys we use a lot because of his versatility. He can play wing. He can take draws as a center. He’s been real good for us all year and good again tonight.”
Sunday’s game was the NHL debut for 2024 first-round pick Zeev Buium, who just finished his season with the University of Denver. He played 13 minutes, 37 seconds and finished with one shot on goal.
Arda’s Three Stars of Monday
The greatest goal scorer in NHL history just keeps finding the back of the net. He had two goals, including the overtime winner, as the Caps take Game 1 3-2 despite a valiant third period effort from Montreal to send it to the extra frame.
Connor had the game-winning goal in the third period for the second straight game, as Winnipeg takes both games at home for the 2-0 series lead on the Blues.
Further proof that the Oilers are never out of the game, McDavid helped erase a 4-0 deficit with a goal and three assists, despite the Oilers falling 6-5 late in a thrilling Game 1.
Monday’s scores
Capitals 3, Canadiens 2 (OT)
Washington leads 1-0
Much of the regular season was spent focused on Alex Ovechkin‘s “Gr8 Chase” of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal-scoring record, and he scored historic goal No. 895 on Sunday, April 6. It turns out, Ovi likes the spotlight. The Capitals superstar opened the scoring in the game, and bookended it with the overtime winner — his first ever, believe it or not — as the Caps survived a thriller in Game 1, following Nick Suzuki‘s tying goal with 4:15 remaining. Full recap.
1:51
Alex Ovechkin’s OT goal wins Game 1 for Capitals
Alex Ovechkin’s second goal of the game is an overtime winner that gives the Capitals a 1-0 series lead vs. the Canadiens.
Jets 2, Blues 1
Winnipeg leads 2-0
Game 1 between the two clubs was tightly contested until the Jets took over in the third period. That trend took hold again on Monday — the score remained tied into 1-1 the third period, when Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor scored at the 1:43 mark, and the Jets were able to hold the Blues off the scoreboard for the duration. Connor’s linemate Mark Scheifele assisted on the game-winner and opened the scoring, giving him a league-leading five points this postseason. Full recap.
0:40
Kyle Connor scores clutch goal to put Jets ahead in 3rd period
Kyle Connor extends Winnipeg’s lead after a clutch goal early in the 3rd period vs. St. Louis.
Stars 4, Avalanche 3 (OT)
Series tied 1-1
The series that every observer thought would be the closest in the first round didn’t look that way in Game 1, as the Avs ran over the Stars en route to a 5-1 win. Game 2 was much more in line with expectations, as the two Western powerhouses needed OT to settle things. Colin Blackwell was the hero for Dallas, scoring with 2:14 remaining in the first OT period. Full recap.
0:50
Colin Blackwell comes up with big OT winner for Stars
Colin Blackwell sends the Stars faithful into jubilation with a great overtime winner to tie the series at 1-1 vs. the Avalanche.
Kings 6, Oilers 5
Los Angeles leads 1-0
Monday’s nightcap was a delight to those who like offensive hockey and were willing to stay up late. The Kings roared out to a four-goal lead late in the second period before Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl scored to pull within three with six seconds remaining. The two teams traded goals to start the third, before the Oilers notched three in a row to tie up the festivities with 1:28 remaining on Connor McDavid‘s first of the 2025 playoffs. L.A.’s Phillip Danault sent his club’s fans home happy, scoring the pivotal goal with 42 seconds left. Full recap.
0:46
Kings retake lead on Phillip Danault’s goal in final minute
Phillip Danault restores the lead for the Kings with a goal vs. the Oilers in the closing moments.
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