American League Championship Series Schedule, Times for Houston Astros

The Houston Astros will host the first two games of the American League Championship Series, which starts on Sunday in Houston against the Texas Rangers.

The Astros clinched their spot in the ALCS with a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins in Game 4 of the AL Division Series on Wednesday.

The Rangers swept the Baltimore Orioles in their division series, which ended on Tuesday.

The Astros will host Games 1 and 2 by virtue of being the No. 2 seed. The Astros caught the Rangers at the top of the American League West on the season’s final day and claimed the seed by virtue of winning the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Rangers.

Game times for the series were set on Thursday. After Game 1 the Astros will host Game 2 on Monday before the series reverts to Arlington and Globe Life Field for Games 3, 4 and 5.

Those games will be on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week, with Game 5 played if necessary.

The series then reverts back to Houston, if necessary, for Game 6 on Oct. 22 and Game 7 on Oct. 23, which is a Sunday and Monday, respectively.

The winner of the best-of-seven series will go to the World Series.

This will be the first time the two Texas-based MLB teams will play each other in the postseason. The Astros played in the National League from 1962-2012, where the only way the two teams could have played each other in the playoffs would have been in the World Series.

Before the Astros moved, the two teams would play each other in the annual “Silver Boot” series in interleague play.

The Astros are making their seventh straight appearance in the ALCS, which is an American League record. In that span, the Astros have won two World Series (2017, 2022), reached two other World Series (2019, 2021) and lost in the ALCS in 2018 and 2020.

The Rangers have not been to the ALCS since 2011, when they won that series and went to the World Series for the second straight year. The Rangers have not won a world championship and have not been to the postseason since 2016.

2023 ALCS schedule:

Game 1: Sunday: Texas at Houston, 7:15 p.m. (Fox)

Game 2: Monday: Texas at Houston, 3:37 p.m. (Fox or FS1)

Game 3: Wednesday: Houston at Texas, 7:03 p.m. (FS1)

Game 4: Thursday: Houston at Texas, 7:03 p.m. (FS1)

Game 5*: Friday: Houston at Texas, 4:07 p.m. (FS1)

Game 6*: Sunday, Oct. 22: Texas at Houston, 7:03 p.m. (FS1)

Game 7*: Monday, Oct. 23: Texas at Houston, 7:03 p.m. (Fox/FS1)

*If necessary