Someone actually used the Astros and Jazz in the same sentence WTF?!!! I'd say the reason for our emergence is pitching plain and simple. It sure is fun having one of the best hitters in the league playing for us. I stopped watching because the team stopped being fun to watch. They are fun to watch again. My confidence in them is slowly building.
Oh how good it feels to have a respectable team. Being out in LA I have been shielded from a lot of the torture over the past few years, but I am so excited about this season. If we have Carter, Gattis, and Springer have good/great seasons, along with picking up a #1 or #2 pitcher at the deadline, this team would be last years Kansas City.
I'm still 35% upset about the move to the AL, 20% upset about being in the West where half of our games run into ungodly hours of the night, and 10% upset about not being able to watch games. But dude, this team keeps getting it done. Can't hold it against the players. Altuve is my hero.
60 games against west coast teams, half at home. Plus subtract a few day games, and the games we were gonna have to play against NL west opponents. There are only 10-15 extra late games a year being in the AL west, it feels like a lot because we've been on a west coast swing early.
The move to the AL still bugs the hell outta me. I've always hated the DH. Plus I watched the Astros for over a decade leading up to the World Series appearance, and to have all those NL rivalries taken away really sucks. I'll get over it eventually I guess, but it almost feels like starting over with a brand new MLB franchise.
Maybe some of you older fans have memories of Dodger rivalries, but the only rivalry I remember is the Cardinals. I started watching in 1994, we played the Dodgers 6 times a year, never felt they were special. The Pirates, Brewers and Reds were inconsequential. I hated the Cubs, but they were rarely good enough to consider an actual rival. I legitimately hate the Yankees and Red Sox more than any NL team. Again aside from the Cards, I don't really miss playing anybody in the NL. Still don't like being forced into the AL, but when we play Seattle I don't bemoan the fact that it should be the Pirates instead.
Braves. I became a baseball fan in the late 90's when the Killer B's ran to the buzzsaw of Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz. The Braves were always a playoff team and finally getting the first ever playoff series win against them in 2004 was sweet. I was at game 5 of the NLDS in Atlanta that year. Then the next year beating them in 18 innings in game 4 of the NLDS was doubly sweet. I was supposed to go skydiving that day but overslept and ended watching all 18 innings. Berkman's grand salami in the 8th, Ausmus's game tying 9th inning 'just-over-the-yellow-line' homerun and then Chris Burke's 18th inning game winner are indelible moments for me.
absolutely!! they'd be packed, including bandwagon Braves fan. you'd be facing a HOF caliber pitcher most nights. Beating that team meant something. In my perfect world, we'd take the DBacks or Rockies place in the NL West. I'm over the AL thing. I hated it...and I resent the hell out of the way it was done. But I'm over it...and I'll be even more over it when the DH finds its way to the NL, which seems closer than ever.
The Braves haven't had HOF caliber pitching in 13 years, and back in those days MMP was always packed. But I guess I never got the same vibe you guys did. Aside from the Cardinals and Rangers the opponent never really mattered to me.
Will the NL adopting the DH change your stance? The more these career AL pitchers sign with NL teams, and possibly injured themselves on the base paths... or the more the NL teams get spanked around by the AL teams in daily interleague games... it is heading for an eventual death.
The next few series are brutal! LOL Buckle up everyone. If the Astros can keep this pace throughout this tough stretch than they have a good shot at making it in the playoffs.
This is one of the reasons the DH has bothered me much less, it appears to be inevitable in the NL. Since interleague started, these has been a push for one universal set of rules. It creates a highers paying position for the union so players want it. It reduces injury risk (slightly) and creates more offense for the casual fans so the owners won't mind it. Us more dedicated baseball guys hate it because it eliminates a huge tactical portion of the game, but most casual fans would prefer the DH and don't care for watching pitchers hit.
