It's the battle of the Lone Star State in the 2023 ALCS as the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers meet in what should be a fantastic series. Ahead of Game 1 on Sunday, second baseman Jose Altuve was asked about his thoughts on their rivalry with the Rangers.

Via Brian McTaggart:

“They're a great team. We won the same amount of games in the season. I think it's going to be a great series… A lot of good players on both sides.”

The Astros absolutely dominated Bruce Bochy's squad in the regular season, winning nine of 13 contests, including a three-game sweep in September. But as we've seen on the National League side, that doesn't mean a thing in the playoffs. The Arizona Diamondbacks could barely beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the season but then won three in a row in the NLDS. The postseason is truly a whole different beast.

While Houston is the defending World Series champions, the Rangers are hitting .282 as a team in these playoffs and have yet to lose, going 5-0. Needless to say, this offense is red-hot. But the Astros also have tons of experience and certainly turned up and performed in the ALDS versus the Minnesota Twins.

As for Jose Altuve, he'll be looking to get it going in this series. The veteran slashed just .235 in the last round. That being said, Altuve batted .286 with a mind-boggling seven home runs in eight games against the Rangers in 2023. This is clearly a ball club he likes to face and Texas will certainly be pitching to him with caution.