A pair of old friends can help Rangers vanquish Astros in AL West chase this weekend

Only nine games remain in the 2026 season, and the Texas Rangers are continuing to trade blows with the Houston Astros in the battle for the AL West title. They will need to continue to play good baseball, but a little help from some old friends would be welcome.

Former Ranger hurlers Tyler Mahle and Martin Perez are scheduled to make starts for the Atlanta Braves against the Astros this weekend. If they can find the form that made them rotation locks while in Arlington, it would go a long way in helping the Rangers overtake their intrastate Silver Boot foes as we get down to the wire.

Former Ranger pitchers Tyler Mahle and Martin Perez could help the Rangers in their bid to claim the AL West

Tyler Mahle was with the Rangers for two seasons in 2024 and 2025, registering a 6-5 record with a 2.91 ERA while racking up 76 Ks over 79.1 innings. Unfortunately, he missed large portions of both seasons with arm injuries, but was very effective when he was able to take the mound.

After being traded from San Francisco at the deadline, Mahle is now with the Atlanta Braves and his having a good second half in the NL East. He is 3-1 with a 1.25 ERA and 0.92 WHIP over 43.1 innings. If you're a Rangers fan, his most important start of the year is coming up Friday night in Houston against Peter Lambert and the Astros.

If he can summon his patented assortment of 5 pitches, including a four-seam fastball, splitter, cutter, slider, and sinker, and stump the Astros' bats, he would get a cheer from DFW that he might be able to hear at Daikin Park.

Another former Ranger starter, Martin Perez, is slated to take the mound for the Braves on Sunday. He will face the tough right-hander Hunter Brown in the series finale. Perez spent two stints with the club from 2012-2018, and again from 2022-2023. He racked up 65 wins against 61 losses. He had his career-best season with the Rangers in 2022 with an impressive 12-8 record, a 2.89 ERA, and 5.1 bWAR. He also made his only All-Star Game appearance that year.

Perez, 35, is a crafty left-hander who relies on location and change of speed on every pitch to keep hitters guessing. Like Mahle, if he could fool the likes of Jeremy Peña, Yordan Alvarez, and the rest of the Astros lineup on Sunday, he'd get more than a nod from Skip Schumaker and the Rangers fanbase.

This weekend could be the differentiating factor for the Rangers. Texas takes on the Toronto Blue Jays, and these three-game serieses represent the toughest challenge remaining for both clubs. As tough as the Blue Jays are, the Braves are an even better team. Getting some help here matters, especially with Houston owning the tiebreaker.

Both were great guys in the clubhouse while with Texas, so rooting for them to do well is easy. If it were to come against the hated rivals with the Rangers' postseason hopes on the line, it would be the cherry on top. Of course, the Rangers need to continue playing winning baseball to take advantage of their help.

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