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Eric Lugo

Texas teams vie for MLB Western Division title

  • Who will claim the MLB Western Division title?
    Who will claim the MLB Western Division title?

    By ERIC I. LUGO

    Austin FC remains on hiatus this week but will return for their match up Sunday, Aug. 20, at St. Louis City FC.

    The “Verde” currently have 32 points on the season and are in fifth place in the Western Conference, a mere 4 points behind the Seattle Sounders FC for fourth place. The next home match for the “Verde” at Q2 Stadium will be on Wednesday, Aug. 30, versus the Sounders FC.

    In the MLB this week, the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros remain in a heated battle for the American League West Division. At press time, the Rangers were 3½ games ahead of the Astros for the division lead, with the Astros currently in the second wild card position.

    This week, the Astros will be on the road to do battle with the Miami Marlins before heading back home to Minute Maid Park to host the Seattle Mariners over the weekend, and beginning the following week, they’ll be hosting the Boston Red Sox.

    The Rangers will host the Los Angeles Angels at Globe Life Field to start out the week, and then they’ll host the Milwaukee Brewers of the National League over the weekend before hitting the road to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks the week after.

    The Rangers are currently 71-48 on the season after going 4-2 this past week, while the Astros are 68-52 after going 4-3.

    In NASCAR news, Michael McDowell was the winner of the most recent race, the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard. The drivers will now head to Watkins Glen, New York, for the Watkins Glen International for the Go Bowling at the Glen race. The race will take place at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 20, with the USA Network providing the television coverage.

    After this weekend, there will only be one race left before the start of the NASCAR Playoffs for the 2023 season on Labor Day weekend.

    We’ll end with a summary of the opening pre-season games for the two Texas NFL teams:

    The Houston Texans opened with a 20-9 victory over the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Thursday, Aug. 10, while the Dallas Cowboys were defeated 28-23 by the Jacksonville Jaguars at AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Saturday, Aug. 12.

    This week, the Cowboys will head out on the road again in Seattle, Washington, to do battle with the Seattle Seahawks, while the Texas will host the Miami Dolphins at NRG Stadium. Kickoff for Cowboys-Seahawks is 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 19, while kickoff for Dolphins-Texans is 3 p.m. on the same date.

    Both the Cowboys and Texans games are billed to be aired on the NFL Network, they may be blacked out. If that is the case, then the Texans are normally shown on KVUE-TV in the Austin area while the Cowboys are normally shown on KXAN-TV.

     

    Eric Lugo Eric I. Lugo contributes a weekly sports column via the Luling Newsboy, a sister publication of lavacacountytoday.com.