The opening 2026 Astros Bullpen: Bryan Abreu AJ Blubaugh Bryan King Roddery Muñoz Steven Okert Christian Roa Kai-Wei Teng Ryan Weiss The long relievers, Blubaugh, Teng and Weiss, I suspect, will be quite busy in April.
Episode 127 of breathing orange fire is up. Come for the astros opening day take- stay for the nonsense about me almost burning down the neighborhood and my dad almost dying at the end.
Opening rotation I suspect that the Astros Brain Trust did not want to pitch Javier and McCullers back to back, since those two might struggle to get to the 5th inning, especially at the start of the season. See: Should Astros Be Worried About Cristian Javier?
The Astros have a fairly easy schedule to start the season. Going 20-12 thru 4/30 is perfectly doable and anything worse than 18-14 would be cause for serious concern. 22-10 would be a great start. 12-20 or worse and the season is probably over before it really begins.
I’d like the front office to emphasize winning out of the gate. We need to know early whether this team can contend. If not, time to sell at the deadline. I’m optimistic about the season and excited to see how it plays out.
Agreed. Every year we hear the 'marathon not a sprint' ... which is true, but at the end of the year every game counts the same and we're likely to make or miss the playoffs by 1-3 games. Need to start strong!
In a marathon, every mile counts the same too. The issue is not about starting weak or strong - of course everyone wants to start well. But it's about not overdoing it early to win every game and then having all your players exhausted or injured by the end of the season. It's no different than load management in the NBA. No one's intentionally not caring about early games.
Many teams absolutely care less about early games. You constantly hear 'let's give it X days' or 'let's try and we can adjust at the trade deadline', etc. There is just as much opportunity to rest at the end of the year if you start strong and build a lead, or to run out of steam late because you are pushing so hard to make up a deficit, than there is to stress your players by 'overdoing it' early. The math doesn't change. A win is a win is a win ... if the Astros had one a single series more early last year they would have made the playoffs. A marathon is not the same, by the way. Runners intentionally pace each other early and save for a final kick. No one else is going to lose early because the Astros want to experiment with a 5-man infield and a teenage outfield.
That's not because they don't care - it's because you need to see what you have. If the Astros go and sign veteran OFs, they'll never know if Cam or Cole or one of the other guys could be good. And if that happens, now you've spent money that don't have on needs that arise later. Adjusting at the tradeline is vital because you don't know, today, who's going to be injured or what your needs will be. No team starts out the season with the same players the end the season with - and for good reason. Yes, and if they had blown some more pitchers' arms trying too hard to win a game early, then they'd have lost more games late. People here complain about Hader's injury from overuse, but then also complain every time the Astros don't run out all their top relievers in every close game. That's the marathon aspect of a season. No, but every other team also paces themselves early in the season for the exact same reasons. A marathoner could sprint all out and get a big lead and "rest themselves" down the stretch too, as you suggest MLB teams could. But they know that it won't work. Being exhausted early has a long-term price that you can't undo. And it's not just physical - the stress of treating every game in April or May as vital takes a mental toll on players that can't be sustained for 7 months. It's not like this is an Astros-specific thing. Every team in MLB approaches the season the same way and there's a very good reason for it.
