Astros Crawfish Boil: Opening Day

Mar 30, 2023 - 1:00 PM

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Welcome to the 2023 Major League Baseball season.

Man it’s time. Today is like Christmas morning when I was a kid. What will the Astros leave under our tree in 2023? At least 95 wins and some more hardware, hopefully.

Houston Astros News

Houston Astros vs Chicago White Sox: Opening Day injury update (chron.com)
Nothing you don’t know here.

Astros games to still air on AT&T SportsNet Southwest amid negotiations (houstonchronicle.com)

From NRIs to The Show, Julks, Salazar earn roster spots (mlb.com)
Jules and Salazar will presumably be the 965th and 966th players to appear on the field for the team in Houston franchise history.

H-E-B’s Houston Astros peanut brittle ice cream: A review (houstonchronicle.com)

Megan Thee Stallion, Cody Johnson, Mark Wahlberg at Houston Astros Opening Day game
Doesn’t....Mark Wahlberg have a Red Sox game to go watch? Also, check out Opening Day Street Fest from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

How much seeing the Astros will cost this year (axios.com)
The estimate assumes four average-priced adult tickets, parking for one car, two hats, two beers, four sodas and four hot dogs as of May 2022. Houston is in third, at $355. Diamondbacks are cheapest at $152, and they should be.

Astros 2023: Not that you’ve asked (chipalatta.com)

The Astros meet the LA Dodgers in a return grudge match from the 2017 World Series. LA pulls out all the stops as they have the Los Angeles DA let all the felons out of their jail if they promise to attack the Astros’ bus. Luckily there are no felons in the LA jail and the plot fails. The Astros bang garbage cans on every pitch just to see the Dodgers’ pitchers flinch and sweep the team in blue and the ghost of Vin Sculley.

AL West News

Top Angels prospect Logan O’Hoppe to get Opening Day start (ESPN.com)

Athletics Trade Cristian Pache To Phillies (mlbtraderumors.com)

Why should Bay Area baseball fans buy a ticket? Giants, A’s make their cases (sfchronicle.com)

The Year of Shohei Ohtani: Why 2023 MLB Season Revolves Around Angels Star (bleacherreport.com)

Here’s everything you need to know for Texas Rangers Opening Day (wfaa.com)

Opening day is here and these Texas Rangers are unlike any we’ve seen in the past (Dallasnews.com)

Mariners’ 10 burning questions for the 2023 season: Predictions? MVP? Rule change impact? (theathletic.com)

Lefko: 3 reasons the Mariners could be better than people think (sports.mynorthwest.com)

MLB News

Yankees improve depth with Cordero deal (source) (mlb.com)

Rob Manfred goes in-depth on MLB’s pursuit of an automated strike zone (theathletic.com)

MLB predictions 2023: Picks for full baseball standings, playoff fields and World Series winners (cbssports.com)

Experts predict this season’s league leaders (mlb.com)

15 games, 1 huge day: Here’s what you need to know (mlb.com)

Pitch clock shaved 26 minutes off MLB spring training games (ESPN.com)

Houston Astros Birthdays

In 805 games over his first seven major league seasons, Alex Bregman (29) has slashed .277/.375/.454 with 140 home runs and 490 RBI. He’s twice made the American League All Star Team, and led the majors in 2018 with 51 doubles and in 2019 with 119 walks. Yeah. He’s still just 29.

Conrad Cardinal (81) pitched in six games for the 1963 Houston Colt .45s. He walked seven, struck out seven, and pitched to a 6.08 ERA in 13 ¹⁄₃ innings. It was his only major league action.

Another cup of coffee, Chris Gardner (54) pitched in five games for the 1991 Astros, walking 14, striking out 12, and racking up a 4.01 ERA in 24 ²⁄₃ frames.

LHP Jeriome Robertson (1977-2010) posted a 15-11 record with a 5.18 ERA for the 2002 and 2003 Astros. He walked 69, whiffed 105, and totaled 170 ¹⁄₃ innings as a rotational starter nearly every fifth day in 2003. Robertson lost his life at the age of 33 when he lost control of his motorcycle.

CF Jake Marisnick (32) played with the Astros from mid-2014 through 2019, and is now entering his 11th major league season, this time with the Chicago White Sox. In 631 games for Houston, he hit .232/.285/.396 while providing generally above-league-average defense in center.

Space Race

Shall we play a game? Predict anything. If you predict Peña’s gonna hit three homers and he does...that’s like 12 points. Predict that Cristian Javier is going to strike out at least three? That’s like a half-point. Predict the four main Astros minor league affiliates all win? I’ll have to figure that one out. Add an attendance prediction, closest guess gets an extra point. If you’re dead on you get three. I’m making up the scoring as I go along, with input from the peanut gallery (that’s you), as it were.

Make your predictions in the comments. If there’s enough interest in this, I’ll score them throughout the season. The running standings will be included in the Astros Crawfish Boil.