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The Crawfish Boxes

Astros baseball: we've got uniforms and everything.

Latest Entries

In The Lab: A Look at Astros Offensive and Defensive Efficiency

Analytics has any number of practical uses, but the best and original use is to verify feelings that we may have when we watch the games. Emotional responses are often rife with bias. We often remember what we want to remember and forget what we want to forget so that we can forward the narrative […]

Projecting the Astros Opening Day Roster 3.0

The Astros will open the 2026 season in exactly one week. At this point in most springs, there might be two or three roster spots still up for grabs, but this year’s 26-man roster feels much murkier. Here is my third and final stab at projecting who will be in uniform next week when the […]

Astros Welcome Back Ingram Little League with Rebuilt Fields After Hill Country Flood

The newly rebuilt Ingram Little League Ballpark, decimated by the devastating July 4, 2025 flooding will officially be debuted with a grand opening event set for Saturday, March 21 at 9 a.m. CT. The Astros Foundation, together with the Community Foundation of Texas Hill Country, Major League Baseball, the Texas Rangers, a number of other MLB teams, as well as Texas-based baseball programs and foundations supported the efforts […]

Astros News & Notes: Brown, Sousa, Spring Breakout, More 3/19/2026

Astros RP Bennett Sousa, who had a career season last year before being shut down with a pronator strain, injured his oblique during PFPs yesterday and will begin the season on IL: Sousa has just ascended to being the top setup reliever last season when he was injured, he went down about 1 week after […]

Astros vs. Mets Spring Training Game Thread 3/19/2026

The Houston Astros (10-11-3) host the New York Mets (11-9-2) in Grapefruit League play. RHP Peter Lambert (1-0) will make his second start and fifth appearance of the Spring tonight as he takes on Mets RHP Kodai Senga. TONIGHT’S STARTER: RHP Peter Lambert gets his second start and fifth overall appearance of the Spring tonight. […]

Astros vs Marlins Spring Breakout Game Thread 3/19/2026

The Houston Astros will face the Miami Marlins in this year’s Spring Breakout game. Game Info Game Date/Time: Thursday, March 19, 11:05 a.m. CST Location: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach, FL TV: Space City Home Network Streaming: SCHN+ Radio: KBME 790 AM/94.5 FM HD-2

Four Big Questions With Astros Broadcaster Steve Sparks

Astros fans know the numbers by heart. 106, 107 and 111.  In a three-year span from 2011-2013, they’d amass 324 losses.  I can vividly recall attending a four game home series verses the Tigers in May of 2013 in which they were outscored by a margin of 37-8 in four straight defeats.  These were the […]

Astros News & Notes: Paredes, Pena, Pitching, More. 3/18/2026

SS Jeremy Pena has already resumed throwing, and will begin swinging a bat this weekend: Pena has NOT been ruled out yet for Opening Day: UT Zach Dezenzo will be limited to DH duties for a little while: So far, there’s no structural issues with Dezenzo’s elbow: Manager Joe Espada intended to give his starters […]

Astros vs. Cardinals 3/18/2026 Spring Training Game Thread

The Houston Astros (10-10-3) travel to Jupiter to take on the St. Louis Cardinals (12-9-2) in Grapefruit League play. RHP J.P. France will make his fifth appearance, including his first start of the Grapefruit League this season. RHP Kyle Leahy will be on the mound for the Cardinals facing the Astros for the third time […]

Astros Spring Training Prospect Standouts Part 2

Baseball season is back, and spring training is in full swing. With that, there has been opportunities for prospects to play with the Major League club and show what they can do. Below are some prospects that have stood out recently. Hitter – Walker Janek Janek was seen as the best defensive catcher in the 2024 […]

In The Lab: The Tools of the Trade

Mid March is a great time of year for any number of reasons, but it isn’t necessarily a great time for analysis. A regular commenter asked how I analyze spring numbers. The simple answer is I don’t. There are any number of reasons why. The most important reason is that the sample size is just […]

Astros News & Notes: McCullers, Imai, OF, More: 3/17/2026

The Astros clobbered the Pirates earlier today 10-2, beating up on SP Mitch Keller. Keller has been a solid starter for the last 4 seasons. Lance McCullers Jr. had another encouraging start, this time going 4 innings. He allowed 1 run on 3 hits, walking 3 and striking out 1, with a hit batter. He […]

Astros News and Notes: Javier, Alvarez, Pena, more 3/16/2026

The latest updates on the Houston Astros from Spring Training: Cristian Javier continues to strengthen his arm and get ready for the regular season. His velocity, while still not as high as it was pre-injury, has improved from his last outing: Manager Joe Espada liked what he saw from Javier: Astros #1 prospect OF Kevin […]

As the WBC Ends, Worrying About the Astros Begins

As the calendar moves deeper into March, many baseball fans have found a welcome distraction in the World Baseball Classic. For Astros fans like me, it has been exactly that, a high-level brand of baseball played with passion and intensity at a time of year when we’re usually stuck parsing spring training box scores and […]

In The Lab: Astros Pitching Depth

Sometimes when we go over numbers things get missed. In this case, there were a few arms that got left out of the conversation and I would be remiss if I didn’t at least address them as camp is coming to a close. Some of the names are names you are familiar with, but they […]

Astros vs. Marlins 3/15/2026 Spring Training Game Thread

The Houston Astros (8-10-3) host the Miami Marlins (8-10-2) in Grapefruit League play. RHP Cristian Javier is set to make his second start of the Grapefruit League. RHP Eury Perez will be on the mound for the Marlins. TODAY’S STARTER: RHP Cristian Javier is making his second start of the Grapefruit League this season. In […]

Astros vs. Mets 3/14/2026 Spring Training Game Thread

The Houston Astros (7-10-3) take on the New York Mets (10-7) in West Palm Beach in Grapefruit League play. RHP Ryan Weiss gets his first start of the Spring for Houston, opposed by RHP Freddy Peralta of New York. TONIGHT’S STARTER: Weiss is making his first start and third appearance of the Grapefruit League this season. In […]

Bullish Prediction by MLB Pipeline for Astros System in 2026

In a recent post by MLB Pipeline, they made predictions for every farm system heading into the 2026 season, and their outlook for the Houston Astros system was fairly bullish. The Astros enter the 2026 season without a Top 100 prospect on Pipeline’s list for the third time in the last five years, but that doesn’t mean the […]

Astros vs. Cardinals 3/13/2026 Spring Training Game Thread

The Houston Astros (7-9-3) travel to Jupiter, FL to face the St. Louis Cardinals (10-8-1) in Grapefruit League play. RHP Kai-Wei Teng gets his first start of the Spring for Houston, opposed by RHP Kyle Leahy of St. Louis. TONIGHT’S STARTER: RHP Kai-Wei Teng is making his first start and fourth appearance this Spring and […]

In The Lab: A Look at Astros Reliever Numbers

We did this with the starters on Wednesday. We looked at six key numbers that can help us both explain why some pitchers succeed and some fail and hopefully help us predict progression or regression. Reliever numbers in particular are ver volatile. When you condense 180 innings into 50 or 60, you are going to […]

Projecting the Astros Opening Day Roster 2.0

With the 2026 season opener two weeks away, most of the Astros’ Opening Day 26-man roster is coming into focus. A few spots, however, remain unsettled. After the signing of Christian Vázquez and the announcement that Josh Hader will start the season on the IL, here’s my second pass at how things could shake out: […]

Astros Top 3 Starters = A Division Winner?

The Law Firm of Brown, Burrows and Imai! We are so Back! The Houston Astros enter the season unlike any other in quite sometime. Astros fans don’t need a reminder of missing the Postseason in 2025. Also with a looming work stoppage and the CBA agreement set to expire Dec of this year. The time […]