MLB Season Begins for Rangers, Astros on Thursday

SAN ANGELO, TX — Baseball is finally back.

Almost five months after the World Series ended with the Los Angeles Dodgers beating the New York Yankees in five games, baseball season is back in full swing with a nearly full slate Thursday.

All but two teams will be in action, including the Texas Rangers hosting the Boston Red Sox at 3:05 p.m., and the Houston Astros at home against the New York Mets at 3:10 p.m.

Only the Colorado Rockies and Tampa Rays are off Thursday. They’ll start their season Friday.

The MLB season actually began last week with a two-game series in Japan, where the Dodgers swept the Chicago Cubs.

Last year was a disappointing season for Texas Rangers fans, who watched their team win the World Series in 2023, only to go right back to missing the playoffs with a 78-84 record.

The Rangers ranked 18th in runs scored and 20th in runs allowed out of 30 teams.

If Jacob DeGrom can remain healthy (always a big if), the Rangers’ pitching staff could make a big jump. Outfielder Wyatt Langford has all kinds of hype as an up-and-coming talent that could kickstart the offense.

For the Houston Astros, they made the playoffs last year for the eighth straight season, though their run of seven straight trips to the American League Championship Series came to an end.

Houston won the AL West Division for the seventh time in the last eight years after posting an 88-73 record, but the Astros were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round with a two-game sweep by Detroit.

The Astros lost some cornerstone players — third baseman Alex Bregman and outfielder Kyle Tucker — but they still have a lot of pieces in place to put together another successful season.

A player to keep an eye on for them is outfielder Cam Smith, a 22-year-old phenom who made the Opening Day roster despite playing only 32 games in the minor leagues.