Texas Rangers Rule Texas! Next Stop World Series After Eliminating Defending Champ Houston Astros

Corey Seager and Adolis Garcia homer early to lead Texas Rangers' first American League pennant since 2011.

HOUSTON — Someone check the number on Austin Hedges' buttocks.

The Texas Rangers are going to the World Series for the first time in 12 years.

And they got to take down the hated interstate and American League West rival Houston Astros to do it.

In front of Astros' fans.

In humiliating fashion.

It was all almost sensory overload for long-suffering Rangers fans still awaiting the team's first World Series title.

Now, they're four wins away, with home-field advantage. Four, that's the number on the backup catcher Hedges' backside.

The Rangers advance to their first World Series since 2011 by taking out the defending champion Astros 11-4 in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series Monday night at Minute Maid Park.

The World Series opponent is yet to be determined, but the Rangers will host Game 1 Friday night at Globe Life Field. The Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks play Game 7 to decide the National League pennant at 7:03 p.m. Tuesday.

The Rangers won twice in Houston after a gut-punch Game 5 loss in Arlington. How did they do it?

“Resilience, man,” Corey Seager said. “This team is tough. We weren’t out of it. That is a tough loss, but we moved on right away. We knew what we had in front of us and we took the opportunity.”

Seager, who was hitting below .200 with only two RBI in the ALCS entering Game 7, hit a 440-foot homer to start a three-run first inning for the Rangers.

Adolis Garcia, Mitch Garver, and Jonah Heim followed with singles to add two more runs and knocked Astros starter Cristian Javier from the game after recording one out.

Max Scherzer, pitching in only his second game since returning from a September arm injury, went 2 2/3 innings before left-hander Jordan Montgomery took over to face the left-hitting Michael Brantley. The Game 5 starter got Brantley to line out to short to end the inning and preserve a 4-2 lead.

The Rangers are the second team to win all four road games in a best-of-seven postseason series. The other? The 2019 Washington Nationals, who beat the Astros in Game 7 of the World Series at Minute Maid Park in a game Scherzer started and went five innings.

Garcia, who hit a game-breaking, ninth-inning grand slam in Texas' Game 6 win Sunday, continued to be lustily booed by Astros fans. In the third, Garcia homered to the right-field corner to push the lead to 4-1. Alex Bregman answered for the Astros with a solo homer in the bottom of the inning.

But the Rangers blew it open with four runs in the fourth and added two more in the sixth. Evan Carter's bases-loaded double to the right-field corner scored two and Garcia's two-run single made it 8-2. Nathaniel Lowe's two-run in the sixth made it 10-2.

Garcia added another homer in the eighth to make it 11-3. His 20 RBI are the most ever by a player in a postseason series. Garcia hit five homers in his past four games.

In the ALCS, Garcia had five homers and 15 RBI en route to earning MVP honors.

Manager Bruce Bochy became the first manager to win a League Championship Series with three different teams. He did with the San Francisco Giants in 2010, 2012, and 2014, and with the San Diego Padres in 1998.

ALCS Game 7: Rangers 11, Astros 4

Here are the key takeaways from Game 7 Monday night at Minute Maid Park:

Record ALCS For Adolis Garcia

Rangers right fielder Adolis Garcia set a record with 15 RBI in the ALCS, the most ever in a postseason series. The most RBI in postseason series history: 

15-Adolis García, TEX in 2023 ALCS vs. HOU
13-Nelson Cruz, TEX in 2011 ALCS vs. DET
12-Bobby Richardson, NYY in 1960 WS vs. PIT
12-John Valentin, BOS in 1999 ALDS vs. CLE

Garcia's 20 RBI over the entire 2023 postseason is a Rangers record, topping Nelson Cruz's 16 in 17 games in 2011. Mike Napoli is third all-time with 15 RBI in 2011.

Rangers' Dynamic Duo

Corey Seager and Adolis Garcia are the first teammates to collect three or more hits in the same postseason game since Kyle Schwarber and Dexter Fowler did it for the Chicago Cubs in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series at Cleveland.

It's just the Rangers' fifth postseason game in which multiple batters collected three or more hits and the second time this postseason. Josh Jung and Seager did it in the Game 2 Wild Card win at Tampa Bay.

Short Night For Javier

Only one pitcher starting a Game 7 postseason game has had a shorter outing than the Astros' Cristian Javier Monday night. Astros manager Dusty Baker pulled his young right-hander with one out in the top of the first after the Rangers scored three runs on four hits and a walk.

Starting pitchers in a postseason Game 7 to go 0.2 innings or less:

• Cristian Javier, 2023 ALCS, 0.1
• Donovan Osborne, 1996 NLCS, 0.2
• John Smiley, 1991 NLCS, 0.2
• Hank Borowy, 1945 World Series, 0.0
• Vic Aldridge, 1925 World Series, 0.1
• Curly Ogden, 1924 World Series, 0.1

Only Aldridge's and Ogden's teams went on to win the game.

Extended Series

Since the League Championship Series expanded to a best-of-seven format in 1985, both the ALCS and NLCS after gone the full seven games for the fourth time. It also occurred in 2003, 2004, and 2020.

Road Warrior Rangers

The Rangers are the second team ever to win eight consecutive road playoff games since the 1996 New York Yankees.

Up Next

The Rangers will have three days off before hosting Game 1 of the World Series at Globe Life Field Friday night. The Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks will decide the National League pennant with Game 7 at 7:03 p.m. Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

Rangers Jump To Quick Lead in Game 7

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Rangers Jump To Quick Lead in Game 7

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You can follow Stefan Stevenson on Twitter @StefanVersusTex.

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