DALLAS — The Rangers-Astros rivalry just got spicier.
Texas Rangers General Manager Chris Young blasted criticism from those in Houston over Texas' clubhouse celebration and whether it had any impact over the Rangers' loss Sunday.
"I find it ridiculous that that's even a subject, honestly," Young said Monday in an interview on GBag Nation on 105.3 The Fan. "This is the most professional, responsible group of players that I've ever been around. We had a very subdued champagne popping. Beyond that, there was no partying. There was nothing outlandish. These guys had earned the right to pop champagne bottles. And that was the extent of our celebration."
So, where do we begin? Let's unravel what happened here.
The Astros, who aren't exactly the darlings of Major League Baseball, seem to have bad blood with just about everyone in the league, but that's especially the case with their in-state rivals, the Rangers.
And especially after the Astros snuck in the back door and took the American League West from Texas on the last day of the season.
The Astros' division title, which sent the Rangers to the Wild Card round starting Tuesday, led to the usual social media chatter between fan bases. And apparently from the Astros themselves.
"We celebrate titles in Houston," the Astros team account posted with a video of their clubhouse celebration on X.
The post was an apparent, and, frankly, witty jab at the Rangers celebrating in the clubhouse the night before, when Texas clinched a Wild Card spot. The Rangers stumbled the next day, losing to the Mariners, 1-0, and letting the AL West slip through their hands.
And that's when things ratcheted up on social media.
Brian McTaggart, who writes for the Astros for MLB.com, posted on X on Sunday afternoon that the Rangers "partied last night while the Astros had a champagne toast and quickly turned their attention to Sunday and one more win."
"Houston's 'been-there, done-that' mentality paid off, it seems," McTaggart posted.
Except, well, that's not *exactly* what went wrong for the Rangers on Sunday afternoon, and if you've watched this team enough, you'll know their offense is as boom-or-bust as it comes.
Evan Grant, who covers the Rangers for the Dallas Morning News and was in the clubhouse for the team's celebration Saturday, was quick to deconstruct McTaggart's suggestion.
Grant posted on X that the Rangers "popped bottles and quickly retired to dining room to watch final outs of Astros game."
"Several players were showered & dressed by time Houston game ended," Grant posted in reply to McTaggart. "Marcus Semien went to town on a Chick-Fil-A [run]. Just inaccurate statement."
Grant also noted all of this went down around 8 p.m., not deep into the night.
Which brings us to Monday, when Rangers GM Chris Young appeared on the GBag Nation on 105.3 The Fan. The show asked Young what he thought about the criticism that the Rangers "partied."
And that's when he fired back.
"It had no impact whatsoever on Sunday's game," Young said. "And it's really pretty poor journalism to even suggest that, honestly. I'm very disappointed in the lack of professionalism of the Houston journalists for putting that out there. It's classless. It's not appropriate and it's completely fabricated. It's wrong."
Listen to Young's full interview here:
After the backlash, on Tuesday, McTaggert said he should have never "indirectly suggested that their [the Rangers'] celebration impacted their performance on Sunday. Read below:
For those wondering, the Rangers and Astros have plenty of work to do before they could meet again in the AL Championship Series. The Rangers would need to get past the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL Wild Card series, starting Tuesday, and then past the Baltimore Orioles in the AL Division Series.
Houston would need to beat the Blue Jays-Twins winner in the AL Division Series.
