DETROIT -- Jace Jung has as competitive of a personality as you’ll find in the Tigers' clubhouse. But as the third baseman readied to play against his brother, Rangers third baseman Josh Jung, for the first time in organized baseball on Saturday, the former high-school teammates decided to have a little fun with it, playing a game of tic-tac-toe in the dirt near the bag.
It’s something Jace talked about before the game, but he worried that they might not get far into the game before the grounds crew would clean up the infield.
“They’re going to rake right over it,” he joked. “I guess I have to win in two moves. I can do that.”
Jace set up the grid in foul territory behind third base, right on the edge of the dirt, to avoid the grounds crew and their rakes. Older brother and visiting player Josh made the first move.
They actually got three moves in total before the game halted. But it wasn’t the grounds crew or their dirt rakes that ended it. It was Jace looking to concentrate on defense, not wanting to make a mistake while thinking through his strategy.
“If I go corner and he goes middle, then it's just a wash, the game will be over,” Jace said before the game. “He needs to go somewhere else.”
Sure enough, Josh took the middle square, followed by Jace on the corner. Josh made another move before the game was abandoned.
“I got scared,” Jace said after the Rangers’ 10-3 win at Comerica Park. “Gotta pay attention.”
Besides, Jace said, “It was going to be one of those games where no one wins.”
The Rangers were the clear winner on Saturday, evening the three-game set heading into Sunday’s finale. But the individual battle was much closer. Josh went 1-for-4 with a sixth-inning single off reliever and former Rangers prospect Chase Lee. Jace went 0-for-3, but made a nice lunging grab in foul territory to retire Josh Smith leading off the fifth inning.
“I'm going to try not to think like that,” Jace said when asked before the game about outplaying his brother. “But obviously that would be the goal.”
The typical sibling rivalry has gone on for years, just not this directly. Josh and Jace Jung were born two years and eight months apart, and were three grades separated in school growing up. That not only prevented them from being opponents as kids, but also teammates for a while. They played on different travel teams due to age groups, which meant that mom and dad often had to split up to drive one or the other to a tournament on weekends.
“I usually went with mom. Josh usually went with dad,” Jace said. “We went to different places. There was a week when we were growing up where he was in Georgia, I was in Florida, so two different cars going. And we don't fly. They'd much rather drive places.”
They played one season together at MacArthur High School in San Antonio, Texas. Josh was a senior, Jace was a freshman.
“I batted two, he batted three,” Jace said. “Just one year.”
Though Jace followed Josh to Texas Tech, Josh went pro in 2019, the summer before Jace’s freshman season with the Red Raiders. Josh went eighth overall to the Rangers in the 2019 Draft. Three years later, the Tigers drafted Jace 12th overall.
Since going pro, they’ve shared in each other’s success. Jace Jung traveled to Seattle two years ago to watch Josh in the All-Star Game, then took in a couple games of the Rangers-D-backs World Series that October. While the Fall Classic came to Chase Field in Phoenix, Jace was in the area playing in the Arizona Fall League. When the Tigers made a late charge into the postseason last year, Josh was on hand to support his younger brother.
With the two on opposite sides of the game, this weekend’s series became a family gathering. Jeff and Mary Jung had been hoping it would come together once the Tigers called up Jace from Triple-A Toledo a few weeks ago. Once they were sure it was going to happen, they made the reservations to fly north from San Antonio.
“He's more of an established guy. I'm kind of right there in between,” Jace said. “So it's hard to circle things right now, because anything can happen on any day.”
Mary wore a split uniform -- half-Rangers, half-Tigers, sewn together. They took in batting practice from the field and posed for pictures. Then they watched their kids compete, on the field and in the dirt.
“Just try to enjoy it,” Jace said. “That’s the main goal.”
That competition was met.
“Pretty special,” he said.