The biggest moment in Texas baseball history is here

Baseball in Texas dates all the way back to 1861, when the Houston Base Ball Club was established just before the outbreak of the Civil War.

Now, 162 years later, we’ve come to the single greatest event in the history of the national pastime in the Lone Star State. When the 2023 American League Championship Series gets underway Sunday night at Minute Maid Park, it will mark the first time two Major League teams from Texas square off in the postseason.

And nothing less than a berth in the World Series is on the line in the latest and greatest installment of what is known as the “Silver Boot Series” between the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers.

The storylines abound. It’s Arlington vs. Houston. Horsepower vs. Spaceships. Bruce Bochy vs. Dusty Baker. Max Scherzer vs. Justin Verlander. Nolan Ryan vs. … well, Nolan Ryan.

The Rangers were in first place for 129 of their first 130 games this season. The Astros swooped in and won the division crown on the final day of the regular season, Houston’s sixth AL West title in seven years.

Houston is in the ALCS for the seventh straight year and looking to win its third World Series. Texas has reached this point for the first time in 12 years, and is still seeking its first World Series title, though it has come ever so close.

Everything’s bigger in Texas, as they say, and this is the biggest baseball showdown in Lone Star State lore. Here’s a look at the shared history between the clubs as they prepare to meet with the AL pennant hanging in the balance:

How MLB came to Texas

While professional baseball had long been established in Texas by this point -- the Texas League (from which we get the phrase “Texas leaguer” in a roundabout way) was founded in 1888 -- the state did not have a Major League franchise until 1962, when the National League expanded by two teams, the Houston Colt .45s and the New York Mets.

The Colt .45s became the Houston Astros in 1965, when their new home, the Astrodome, opened to great fanfare. Dubbed the “eighth wonder of the world,” the venue was the first indoor, air-conditioned ballpark in the Majors.

A decade after Houston landed a Major League team, Texas added another big league franchise when the second iteration of the Washington Senators (they first moved to Minnesota and became the Twins in 1961) departed the nation’s capital and resettled in Arlington. In 1972, the Texas Rangers were born.

Head-to-head history

The two Texas teams found themselves in different leagues, with the Astros in the National League and the Rangers in the American League. So outside of exhibition contests, they didn’t play each other until their first Interleague meeting in 2001.

While the “Silver Boot Series” didn’t begin in earnest until then, the Silver Boot trophy was first awarded to the winner of an exhibition game between the Astros and Rangers prior to the 1992 season. The Rangers won that game and claimed the first boot.

The Silver Boot Series took on new meaning when the rivalry became more than a regional affair -- in 2013, the Astros joined the Rangers in the AL West.

Since the clubs first began playing each other in Interleague games in 2001, Texas leads Houston in the series, 134-132. Since they became division rivals, Houston has won the AL West six times (all since 2017) and Texas has won the division crown twice (2015 and ’16).

In other words, in every full season (excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign) since 2015, a team from Texas has won the AL West.

Memorable moments

Ryan’s return: All-time MLB strikeout king Nolan Ryan, who was born in Refugio, Texas, spent nine seasons with the Astros before signing a free-agent contract with the Rangers prior to the 1989 season. On April 2, 1993, he made his final appearance on the mound at the Astrodome to pitch in an exhibition game against Houston.

More than 53,000 fans were on hand to bid farewell to their favorite baseball son, though the Astros hit him hard for four runs on 10 hits over six innings. It was the largest crowd to ever witness a baseball game in the state of Texas up to that point.

Ryan ultimately went into the Hall of Fame in 1999 with a Rangers cap on his plaque, given the many historic milestones he reached in a Texas uniform, including his 300th win, 5,000th strikeout and two of his seven career no-hitters.

Ryan became the president and CEO of the Rangers in 2008, and he remained with the organization until ’13. From 2014-19, he was a special assistant for the Astros.

Inaugural Interleague showdown: On June 8, 2001, the Astros and Rangers met in the regular season for the first time in the opener of a three-game set at the Ballpark in Arlington. It was an instant classic, with Houston prevailing in 11 innings, 5-4. Moises Alou launched a go-ahead homer in the 11th for the Astros. Ivan Rodriguez and Rusty Greer each homered for Texas. Ken Caminiti, who was drafted by the Astros in 1984 before playing 10 seasons for Houston, went 0-for-3 but walked twice and scored a run for Texas.

Fireworks for the Fourth: With the 2004 Silver Boot trophy on the line in the season series finale between the clubs on July 4, the Rangers smashed six homers en route to an 18-3 rout at Minute Maid Park. Mark Teixeira and Kevin Mench each belted two home runs, and Alfonso Soriano and Hank Blalock each hit one. Houston’s Andy Pettitte was roughed up for six runs on eight hits over five innings.

Yu was so close: In the second game of the 2013 season, and the second time the Astros and Rangers faced off as division rivals, Texas starter Yu Darvish was perfect through 8 2/3 innings of a 7-0 Rangers win, but gave up a two-out single to Houston’s Marwin Gonzalez in the ninth. Texas won 17 of 19 games against Houston that season.

Tempers flare, Part I: The rivalry became heated when in the ninth inning at Minute Maid Park on July 18, 2015, the Rangers’ Rougned Odor was confronted by Astros catcher Hank Conger, who took exception to Odor staring at pitcher Josh Fields. The benches cleared but no punches were thrown.

Odor went on to triple, eventually scoring to cushion Texas’ lead. Conger launched a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, but the Rangers held on to win, 7-6. Both clubs were fighting for the AL West title that season, with Texas edging Houston by two games after a huge sweep of Houston in September.

Tempers flare, Part II: Two seasons later, things got heated again at Minute Maid Park, when Rangers starter Andrew Cashner hit Jose Altuve in the first inning and Yuli Gurriel in the second. Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. threw a pitch behind Mike Napoli’s head in the sixth, and the benches cleared. The Astros won the game, 6-2.

Haunted by Hunter: He was born in Fort Worth, played college ball at the University of Texas in Arlington and was a second-round Draft pick of the Astros in 2004. He played for Houston from 2007-11, a period over which he was a two-time All-Star. After stints with the Phillies and Giants, Hunter Pence signed with the Rangers in 2019 and had a resurgent season with his hometown club. On April 21, he hit a two-run homer in Texas’ 11-10 win over the Astros in Arlington.

Tempers flare, Part III: In the most recent episode of bad blood between Houston and Texas this season on July 26, things got heated following a fifth-inning grand slam by Adolis García. Marcus Semien was on base, and as he crossed the plate, he and Astros catcher Martín Maldonado exchanged words and had to be separated, leading to another benches-clearing incident.

This all stemmed from multiple hit batters in the game -- Yordan Alvarez was hit in the first inning, Semien was plunked in the third and a pitch was thrown high and tight to Nathaniel Lowe in the fourth. Texas eventually won, 13-5.

Notable names

There have been several notable players who suited up for both the Astros and the Rangers over the years. At the top of the list, of course, is Ryan, who pitched for Houston from 1980-88, and then for Texas from 1989-93.

Here are some other notable names:

Ivan Rodriguez (Rangers from 1991-2002, 2009; Astros in 2009)

Ken Caminiti (Astros from 1987-94, 1999-2000; Rangers in 2001)

Lance Berkman (Astros from 1999-2010; Rangers in 2013)

Carlos Beltrán (Astros in 2004, 2017; Rangers in 2016)

Hunter Pence (Astros from 2007-11; Rangers in 2019)

Kenny Lofton (Astros in 1991; Rangers in 2007)

Carlos Lee (Rangers in 2006; Astros from 2007-12)

Roy Oswalt (Astros from 2001-10; Rangers in 2012)

Buddy Bell (Rangers from 1979-85, 1989; Astros in 1988)

Rusty Staub (Astros from 1963-68; Rangers in 1980)

Pete Incaviglia (Rangers from 1986-90; Astros in 1992, 1998)

Dickie Thon (Astros from 1981-87; Rangers in 1992)

Danny Darwin (Rangers from 1978-84, 1995; Astros from 1986-90, 1996)

Carl Everett (Astros from 1998-99; Rangers from 2002-03)

Richard Hidalgo (Astros from 1997-2004; Rangers in 2005)