What to Look for as Rangers Welcome Division Rival Astros Back to Globe Life Field for 2026 Memorial Day Series

The Lone Star series shifts to Globe Life Field this week as the Texas Rangers host the Houston Astros for a crucial four-game series starting on Monday, May 25th. Both of these teams are looking to shake off early-season struggles and inconsistencies and assert early dominance in a lackluster but highly competitive American League West. Skip Shumaker and his Rangers, and Joe Espada and his Astros, go into the series with sub-.500 records; the Rangers currently sit at 24-27, and the Astros are 22-31. Earlier in May, these teams opened the first chapter of the Lone Star series in Houston, where three keys helped shape the Rangers and Astros first series of the 2026 season. Houston took two out of three games before Texas salvaged the finale with a commanding 8-0 shutout victory.

This rivalry is one of the more competitive in the League, and with how much it means to both squads, this series was surely circled on the calendar, and both teams are preparing to put their best talent on the mound and on the field. Pitching can deter the game, and more or less the whole series, and we get an interesting pitching matchup in game one on Memorial Day, with the Rangers starting Kumar Rocker on the mound, and Tatsuya Imai is set to start for the Astros. One thing to keep an eye on as we get closer to the series is if Schumaker decides to have a reliever start the first inning and have Rocker go out for the rest of the game, just as he did on May 19th against the Rockies. For that game, Schumaker set reliever Tyler Alexander to pitch the first inning as the opener, resulting in a scoreless first inning. That set up Rocker to toss a career-high 7.2 shutout innings in a 10-0 Rangers victory. With this, it wouldn’t be surprising if Schumaker decided to revisit this strategy and provide his team the best chance of winning. Imai is in the midst of his rookie Major League season with the Astros, and he’s had one of the more turbulent starts to a season. In five games, he carries a 1-2 record with an ERA of 8.31. This matchup against an anemic but unpredictable Rangers batting lineup will be interesting to keep an eye on as the game progresses, and it can be a great chance for Texas to get their offense back on track. 

In game two on May 26th, Mike Burrows and Jack Leiter are set to start on the mound. Burrows, who’s 2-6 on the season, is looking to get back on track against the aforementioned unpredictable Rangers offense, while Leiter also looks to get back on track as he’s 1-4 on the season, carrying a 4.61 ERA. If Leiter can find himself back in the groove he was in during the early stages of the season, it should be a reasonably confident performance and a potential win. Leiter also looks to get revenge in game two, as his most dominant performance of the season came against the Astros back on May 15th, as he fired off seven innings, allowed three hits, and a single run. Despite a dominant performance, the Rangers dropped that game 2-0. Game three on May 27th will be the game both fanbases will be excited for, as we get an invigorating pitching matchup with Spencer Arrighetti versus Jacob deGrom. Arrighetti acted as the ‘Texas Tamer’, with a spectacular outing the last time he faced the Rangers, posting 7.1 innings of shutout baseball. While he’s given up 25 walks on the season in 41 innings, his ability to strand runners on the base paths and only allowing one home run all season has landed him a spectacular 6-1 record on the season. On the other hand, the Astros have a tough battle ahead as they’ll have to face off against two-time Cy Young Award winner deGrom. Early in the season, deGrom has been his dominant self, although he did have a turbulent last outing against the Angels. This season, the 37-year-old carries a 3-4 record and averages a 3.86 ERA, but his strikeout-to-walk ratio is what’s most impressive. In 53.2 innings pitched, ‘deGrominator’ has struck out 64 batters and only walked five. He also looks to get his 100th career regular-season victory this week as he’s sitting at 99. 

Lastly, game four will finish off on May 28th with Nathan Eovaldi versus Kai-Wei Teng. Eovaldi has been on fire lately, as in his last three games, he’s pitched 22 innings, boasting a 1.64 ERA, notching 22 strikeouts to just four walks. ‘Evo’ had a questionable start to the season as he had been getting hit around, especially in the early stages of games. Recently, he’s shaken off those early-season inconsistencies and has found his groove, and has given Schumaker exactly what a front-line is supposed to deliver. He’ll get another chance to assert his dominance, just as he did on May 17th against the Astros, resulting in an 8-0 win. In that game, the 36-year-old pitched seven innings, allowed just five walks, struck out eight batters, and allowed just five hits. As dominant as Eovaldi has been for the Rangers, Teng has been just as dominant for the Astros. Teng, the 27-year-old righty from Taiwan, carries an impressive 2.53 ERA, a 2-3 record in 32 innings pitched. Teng will be coming off the best performance in his big-league career, as he pitched six scoreless innings on May 23rd against the Chicago Cubs, which allowed Houston to get a 3-0 win. Teng has already shown he can handle the high-stakes rivalry, as he came up huge out of the bullpen against the Rangers on May 16th, firing off five scoreless innings. His ability to limit damage shows his comfort under pressure. 

This series is all about survival and momentum for both squads. The Rangers come into this series heavily shorthanded, missing major pieces like Corey Seager, Josh Smith, and Wyatt Langford. To win this series, Texas will need its infield and outfield to play clean defense and rely on high-upside pitching performances from its young arms, Rocker and Leiter, allowing the veterans deGrom and Eovaldi to close things out with less pressure. For Houston, it’s a prime opportunity to bridge the gap in the division and crawl back towards a .500 record. They somewhat have the same game plan as their counterparts, as they’ll have to rely on great defense and pitching, as well as decent offensive performances, to relieve some of the pressure on their pitching staff.