2025 Road Trip #2: Hell or High Water
Everything's bigger in Texas, including this road trip
It’s January, that lonely spot on the calendar between the World Series and Opening Day. Our swim from shore to shore is halfway done, and you can look back and see how far we’ve come, and then turn around and see how far we have to go. But! The 2025 baseball schedule is assembled, so why not cheer ourselves up with some vacation planning?
This is part 2 of 5 different road trip options for your planning pleasure.
There was a movie that came out a few years ago called Hell or High Water. I won’t spoil it for anyone, but the basic plot involves a pair of brothers robbing banks throughout Texas and running from the law. But for this road trip, we’ll actively be trying to see the Texas Rangers instead of keeping them in the rearview.
There are currently 10 MLB-affiliated teams in Texas. Of course most know the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros. There’s also three triple-A teams, the El Paso Chihuahuas (who were the Portland Beavers once upon a time), Express, and Space Cowboys. Then there’s an entire league called the Texas League. Half of the ten double-A teams playing in that league are located in Texas.
The resulting road trip takes you all over the Lone Star State. On the 2025 schedule, this is the only efficient spot I could find to see all 10 teams in 10 days with manageable drives between stops (and no doubling back and forth). Texas is 800 miles from north to south, and 773 east to west, so I think me finding a road trip that has zero drives over 500 miles is pretty impressive.
So what are the details? I live in Arizona, so I’ll be driving to stop 1 in El Paso, and home from Amarillo several days later. Amarillo, Midland and El Paso are the “outer planets” of a Texas road trip, you could close the loop and only go as far west as San Antonio to save a thousand miles of open range if you’re a wimp. Otherwise, the actual trip is 2,000 miles and 30 hours of driving. Stetson hat, belt buckle and cowboy boots optional, but recommended. It’s also August, so some water is advised.
Stop 1: El Paso
Game 1: Thurs, Aug 7, 6:35- El Paso Chihuahuas vs Oklahoma City Comets at Southwest University Park
We start in the west Texas town of El Paso. You could spend the evening at Rosa’s cantina and fall in love with a Mexican girl. But first you get to watch the Chihuahuas, the one mascot that would lose every mascot battle royale but not for lack of ferocity. You definitely need one of their hats:
They are currently the triple-A affiliate of the Padres in the Pacific Coast League.
You can relax in El Paso for the night. The next drive is a longer one but it’s a night game, so sleep in.
Stop 2: Midland
Drive: El Paso to Midland (304 miles, 4.5 hours)
Game 2: Fri, Aug 8, 7:00 - Midland RockHounds vs Amarillo Sod Poodles at Momentum Bank Ballpark
We continue our tour of canine-inspired team names with the RockHounds, the double-A affiliate of the Athletics. If you get in town early, your options are a Whataburger, the George W. Bush family home, or the Petroleum Museum. The ballpark is a no-frills classic, small-town baseball at its finest.
It’s another overnight stay in Midland before the second long haul across Texas to get to the population centers for the bulk of this trip.
Stop 3: San Antonio
Drive: Midland to San Antonio (335 miles, 5 hours)
Game 3: Sat, Aug 9, 7:05 - San Antonio Missions vs Springfield Cardinals at Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium
When a stadium still has a person’s name and “municipal”, you know it’s gonna be good. It was built in 1994, and even with San Antonio being the 7th largest city in the country and home to the Spurs, the baseball team and stadium feel like a rural summer getaway. The Missions are the double-A affiliate of the Padres.
As for things to do, San Antonio has plenty, just ask Charles Barkley!
There’s the River Walk. And of course, The Alamo, which is the closest thing Texas has to a holy site. Spend the night in town, it’s off the Gulf of America Mexico tomorrow.
Stop 4: Corpus Christi
Drive: San Antonio to Corpus Christi (148 miles, 2 hours)
Game 4: Sun, Aug 10, 5:05 - Corpus Christi Hooks vs Tulsa Drillers at Whataburger Field
Of course there’s a Whataburger Field in Texas. Wait, but no In-N-Out Coliseum in California? This is a matchup of that time old argument: Hooks or Drillers. The Hooks are the double-A affiliate of the Astros. The field looks lovely, right next to the waterfront with a view of Harbor Bridge from behind home plate. We’ve now reached our southernmost stop 4 days into the journey.
Spend the night in Corpus Christi and it’s off to H-Town for a couple days.
Stop 5: Houston
Drive: Corpus Christi to Houston (211 miles, 3.25 hours)
Game 5: Mon, Aug 11, TBD - Houston Astros vs Boston Red Sox at Daikin Park
After a week in the minors, we get to take in a game at a big league ballpark for the first time. Sadly, 2025 will be the first season since 2001 without an orange juice-themed ballpark. Tropicana Field is on the injured list with an upper body injury. Orbit finally delivered all those oranges he had in the train cart and the company ended the contract:
Daikin is a Japanese conglomerate that makes piston pumps and air conditioners and other random crap. So the orange cart is gonna be replaced with a bin full of appliances and look like a scrap metal collector’s trip to the salvage yard. How quaint.
I’m against indoor baseball. It always feels like being in a giant convention center with turf in the middle. But at this point, I’m sure it’ll be great to have some A/C after 4 games in the Texas summer. While I did love the Astros back in the Biggio-Bagwell-Berkman Killer B’s days, I wouldn’t mind rolling into my seat this trip to see a 5th-place team…
Stop 6: Sugar Land
Drive: Houston to Sugar Land (22 miles, 0.5 hour)
Game 6: Tues, Aug 12, 5:05 - Sugar Land Space Cowboys vs Salt Lake Bees at Constellation Field
The first “rest” day of the trip, as Sugar Land is just outside of Houston and requires no long distance driving. The Space Cowboys are the triple-A affiliate of the Astros. Before that, Sugar Land had a relatively famous independent league team called the Skeeters that Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro have come out of retirement to play one-off games for. Guess if they played longer they’d risk a PED suspension.
End your two-night stay in Houston as the next day is a morning getaway to Dallas.
Stop 7: Arlington
Drive: Sugar Land to Arlington (276 miles, 4 hours)
Game 6: Wed, Aug 13, 1:35 - Texas Rangers vs Arizona Diamondbacks at Globe Life Field
You’ll have to escape the Houston traffic and get to Arlington in time for a day game at the Rangers new ballpark. You’ll probably step foot outside the car at 1pm in the dog days of August in Texas and wonder how people actually used to play and watch baseball out here outside. They’ve upgraded to a retractable roof to hide from the sun while you watch the 2023 World Series rivals square off once again.
It’s another two-day stay in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with Frisco coming up next.
Stop 8: Frisco
Drive: Arlington to Frisco (35 miles, 0.5 hours)
Game 6: Thu, Aug 14, 7:05 - Frisco RoughRiders vs Midland RockHounds at Riders Field
It’s a battle of teams with camelCase names. The RoughRiders, the double-A affiliate of the Rangers, play at the park I’ve been to most in Texas. It was once Dr. Pepper Ballpark but the doctor retired his name from the stadium signage. It’s also where the promotions team once tried to launch hot dogs into the crowd using a CO2 cannon, resulting in deconstructed hot dogs and wrappers littering the field. And one hot dog that never touched earth again…
Anyways, it’s a fun stadium and a relaxing spot to kick off the 2nd week of this trip.
Stop 9: Round Rock
Drive: Frisco to Round Rock (202 miles, 3 hours)
Game 6: Fri, Aug 15, 7:15 - Round Rock Express vs Sacramento RiverCats at Dell Diamond
This one heads to the outskirts of Austin and the final major city of Texas you’ll see on this trip. The Express are the triple-A team of the Rangers. Round Rock was once listed the second best minor league town in America, in 2018. But I can’t find who ranked these cities that the Round Rock city website is claiming this.
Now you can splurge on a nice hotel for a good night’s sleep as the next day calls for the grand finale and longest drive of the trip.
Stop 10: Amarillo
Drive: Round Rock to Amarillo (479 miles, 7.5 hours)
Game 10: Sat, Aug 16, 1:35 - Amarillo Sod Poodles vs Corpus Christi Hooks at Hodgetown Stadium
Yes it’s a tough sell to ask you to, after 1,500 miles and 9 days, drive almost 500 miles into west Texas. But who could say no to this!?
Those little guys mean business. They did miss an opportunity to let the prairie dogs have free reign of the infield dirt and act to thwart seeing-eye singles with their lookouts. But the stadium still looks nice without such a gimmick. Enjoy one last open sky Texas sunset and relax. You’ve just done 10 stadiums across the expanse of Texas in just 10 days!
Summary
This is the only time I could make 10 days and all 10 Texas teams work without added mileage or air travel. If you wan to shorten it, you can start in either San Antonio or Houston and end in Round Rock for a 5- or 6-day loop.
If you make it through all 10 days, congrats. You’ll have a suntan, belly full of BBQ and “Deep in the Heart of Texas” fully memorized after hearing it at every 7th-inning stretch in the state.
If you take one of these trips, send a postcard!
I enjoy these possible roadtrips. If somebody does this trip, you can always start here in Albuquerque (the Rockies Triple-A affiliate) the day before El Paso. It's a little under 4-hour drive to El Paso.