Downtown Round Rock, Texas is the site of the historic gunfight, capture, and eventual death of the notorious 19th-century train robber Sam Bass by the Texas Rangers in July 1878.

Round Rock is also destined, in 2018, to be the site of another tussle for the Texas Rangers (the baseball ones, not the law-enforcing ones), and the world champion Houston Astros, who at separate times featured two Basses of their own (OF Kevin Bass 1982-89 and 1993-94, and RHP Anthony Bass 2014, and currently a Ranger, coincidentally).

This time, though, the battle of Round Rock will be orchestrated by Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, who pitched for both Texas MLB teams (and was once the Rangers’ president and CEO, and is currently an Astros special assistant), and whose son, Reid, is an Astros executive and founder of the Round Rock club.

UPDATE: Official announcement of the new PDC agreement between the Express and the Houston Astros took place September 20, 2018 at Dell Diamond!

Nolan Ryan, citing a desire to spend more time on his ranches and with his family, stepped down as CEO of the Rangers at the end of October 2013. He was hired by the Astros on February 11, 2014.

But, the stakes for broadcast rights, plus merchandise and ticket sales are much higher now that the Astros have become champs looking to repeat in 2018, and the Rangers are eager to reclaim their long-lost mantel as the top Texas team. Something’s gotta give.

What’s At Stake

Round Rock, Texas is a tiny, ultra-conservative former “bedroom community” (now accurately described as a “super suburb”) north of the politically progressive Lone Star State capitol of Austin, just 20 miles from downtown to downtown. When it comes to the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros, though, Round Rock and its 100,000 potential baseball consumers (nearly one-sixth are Dell Computer employees) becomes a mightily-fought-after minor league asset between the American League Western Division rivals.

Joining in on the central Texas dogfight has been Fox Sports Southwest, the regional sports network recently acquired by Disney (and thus, ESPN), in a deal that won’t be completed for another year. Fox Sports Southwest had broadcasted Astros games in the Austin market for several years before the Houston team began losing more games than it won (88 losses in 2009, 86 losses in 2010, with losses creeping over 100 for several years following before their recent resurgence).

Ratings for Rangers games had far surpassed viewership for any Astros broadcast beginning around 2009, the network observed, leading FSSW to sign a deal with the Rangers to make the Austin area Texas Rangers’ regional flagship territory. This team exposure, obviously, increased regional awareness of the team, and by extension, whelped interest and sales for team merchandise and ticket sales for the parent club.

Enter The Express

The Round Rock Express (named for Nolan Ryan’s nickname, “The Ryan Express”), the Astros’ former Double-A (2000-2005) and Triple-A team (2006-2009) that has been affiliated with the Rangers since 2010, is co-owned by Ryan and Houston businessman Don Sanders. Nolan’s son, Reid Ryan, has been the Astros’ president of business operations since 2013, and was instrumental, with GM Jeff Luhnow and owner Jim Crane, in building the current champions from perennial losers during those otiose years to champs built, it seems, to last.

Related: Astros’ AAA Grizzlies Closer to Moving Back to Round Rock…And, Fresno May Help Them Pack…..and

Triple-A Tango: Express to Astros or Rangers? The Dance Begins

Exit The Rangers?

You see, the clock is ticking on the Rangers’ deal with the Round Rock Express. Once their current agreement expires after the 2018 season, the Rangers and the Pacific Coast League’s Express will reportedly end their affiliation. The Astros have housed their Triple-A affiliate in Fresno, CA since 2015 (compiling a 234-194 record, .547 winning percentage in three years), after four years in Oklahoma City from 2011 through 2014.

After the current player development contract (PDC) between the Rangers and Express expires after the upcoming season, it doesn’t seem likely that they’re headed toward a renewal.

According to Zach Spedden in the November 17, 2017, Ballpark Digest, “The Express could ultimately strike an agreement with the Houston Astros while the Rangers work to secure a new PDC with another Class AAA club.

“The Rangers expected to be formally told of Round Rock’s intentions at December’s winter meetings, and they were hopeful they would be able to find a new affiliate relatively close to Arlington. (At press time, no public announcement had been made regarding a change in affiliation).

“Houston would vacate Fresno, and the Rangers want to avoid being that far away from their Triple-A club. The Astros’ PDC with the Grizzlies, coincidentally, also draws to a close after the 2018 season.

“It should be noted that any affiliation shifts will be negotiated after the 2018 season. In addition, there figures to be a very limited number of Class AAA clubs available between the Pacific Coast League and the International League.”

Should the Rangers be cast adrift, searching for an AAA affiliate, “One match possible for the Rangers,” Spedden asserts, “could be San Antonio, as the current Colorado Springs Sky Sox (Milwaukee Brewers’ Class AAA, Pacific Coast League) are set to relocate there for the 2019 season.

“That move will come as part of a series of franchise shifts by the Elmore Sports Group, as the organization plans to move the current San Antonio Missions (San Diego Padres’ Class AA, Texas League) to a new ballpark in Amarillo, while the Sky Sox relocate to San Antonio, and have their place in Colorado Springs taken by the current Helena Brewers (Rookie, Pioneer League).”

“One potential landing spot (for a Rangers AAA affiliate) could be El Paso,” hints the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “The Chihuahuas’ PDC with the San Diego Padres ends after next season. Also, Wichita, a former home to a team in the Double A Texas League that is interested in bringing minor-league baseball back to Kansas.”

Now That The Astros Are Winners….

While Fox Sports Southwest has a few years left on their television broadcast rights contract with the Rangers in the Austin market, the new Disney ownership may deem it profitable to make central Texas Houston Astros game broadcast territory again. Winning begets profits, and the House of Mouse can sniff out the latter with the best of them.

More importantly, Nolan Ryan was instrumental in changing the Round Rock Express from the Astros’ top-level minor league affiliate to a Texas Rangers Triple-A asset when he sat in his large, wood-panelled office in Arlington. He’ll be instrumental, too, in putting Astro fan fannies, once again, back into Round Rock’s Dell Diamond seats across from the railroad tracks on Texas Highway 79, beginning in 2019.

Having their Triple-A club back in Round Rock would, of course, benefit the Astros, logistically. Round Rock is less than three hours from Minute Maid Park, and prospects could make a quick appearance in Houston if called up from the AAA club. Plus, nurturing baby Astros again in Round Rock would allow the parent club a bigger presence overall in Central Texas, perhaps providing Disney, at the appropriate time, a ledger-pleasing rationale to swing heart of Texas TV viewership back in the Astros’ direction.

This February 2014 article by Astros MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart revealed the landscape of the Express issue shortly after Houston lured back Nolan Ryan from the Rangers, and reflects the radical outlook considered then by Astros brass…an idea that has to now be far off the practical blueprints at the dawn of 2018:

“Of course, Astros owner Jim Crane would like to move the Triple-A team near the city’s northern suburbs of The Woodlands or Conroe, which would require building a stadium and relocating an existing franchise. That would be several years down the road if they were to accomplish it.

“Last year (2013), the Astros had conversations with Johnson Development, which was in the process of purchasing a 2,000-acre Boy Scout camp north of Houston, about acquiring land.” Again, those words breathed their last gulps of air four years ago, but their emergence, in 2014, shows the lengths to which new owner Crane was willing to go to return a Triple-A franchise back to Texas for his newly-acquired team while reinforcing the importance of AAA proximity to the big league stadium.

Just a Bit Inside…

The Houston Astros have spent half a dozen years grooming a winning parent club, largely through careful drafting and developing their young players through a much-improved minor league system, which now ranks #10 in all baseball, compared to the Rangers’ #21 ranking.

If it’s true that the rich get richer, then the reunion of the Round Rock Express with the World Champion Astros would seem to be nothing more (or less) than a foregone conclusion, and a reunion worthy of the champs.

And, don’t think Astros fans wouldn’t dine on the delicious irony of that transition, as brokered by the legendary Ryan Express himself, in a metaphoric high fast one, forcing the Rangers back on their heels…again.

Sam Bass would be proud. And, no one had to fire a shot.

Related: Longtime Astros Pitcher Roy Oswalt Inducted Into Round Rock Express Hall of Fame