Rangers general manager Chris Young came to his club's defense after a journalist who covers the Houston Astros criticized the Rangers for celebrating in the clubhouse after clinching their first playoff berth since 2016 after beating the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night.
MLB.com's Astros reporter, Brian McTaggart, fired a shot at the Rangers on X, saying that Houston was able to snatch the AL West division crown away from the Rangers on the final day of the regular season because Houston held "a champagne toast and quickly turned their attention to Sunday" after beating the Arizona Diamondbacks to remain a game behind Texas with one game to play, while the Rangers "partied," instead of holding their celebration until after the division race was decided the following day.
"Houston's 'been-there, done-that' mentality paid off, it seems," McTaggart added. "It’s 100’percent. Rangers partied after Saturday’s win. There’s pictures. Astros didn’t party Saturday."
Rangers beat writer for the Dallas Morning News, Evan Grant, responded to McTaggart's comments on X a short time later, calling the statement "inaccurate."
"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. Marcus Semien went to town on a Chick-Fil-A. Just inaccurate statement," Grant wrote to McTaggart.
But that response wasn't good enough for Rangers general manager Chris Young, who went a step further and blasted McTaggart and other Astros writers who claimed that Texas's celebration cost them the division.
listen to Young's entire comments in the podcast above
"None. I find it ridiculous that that's even a subject, honestly. 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," Young said Monday on the 'GBag Nation' on 105.3 The Fan when asked if he had any issues with his team's celebration. "It had no impact whatsoever on Sunday's game. 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."
The back-and-forth is the latest chapter in the Rangers-Astros saga. Here's to hoping there will be another chapter written before the postseason comes to a close.