FANS IN THE STANDS
Here's what the gameday experience will look like this season for Texans fans
Sep 29, 2020, 9:29 am
Fans can finally attend Texans games in person! Photo via: NRG Park/Facebook
3) NRG Stadium/Texans
The Houston Texans will have 13,300 real-life human fans in the stands - about 20-percent of NRG Stadium's usual capacity – when they tackle the Minnesota Vikings this Sunday.
The decision to allow a limited number of fans in the stadium was reached by city, county and state officials with input from the National Football League.
"The health and safety of our fans, our staff, our team and our community have been and will remain our priority throughout the COVID-19 pandemic," Texans president Jamey Rootes said in a statement.
"We look forward to welcoming our home-field advantage back and resuming our cherished Texans game day traditions. We have been working tirelessly to make changes and implement protocols at NRG Stadium to ensure a safe environment."
Here are the nuts and bolts of the seven Texans home games remaining on the schedule:
Season ticket holders who did not defer for the 2020 season will have first crack at purchasing tickets. If any tickets are left over, they will go on sale at noon today (Tuesday) at Ticketmaster.com. No tickets will be sold at the NRG Stadium box office.
There will be no tailgating permitted in NRG Stadium parking lots during the 2020 season.
Fans will be instructed to stand at least six feet apart from the time they park their cars to when they take their seats inside the stadium. Fans must stand six feet apart, even when they visit concession stands and restrooms.
Important: all fans, 10 years and older, must wear a face mask at all times, except when they are eating or drinking. A full array of concession stands will be open, including Ronnie Killen's world-famous barbecue ribs and sandwiches. Chris Shepherd's Underbelly Hospitality will offer bacon sausage hot dogs with pimento cheese, tater tot casserole and wagyu nachos.
There will be 475 hand sanitizing stations throughout the stadium, and frequent mentions on the scoreboard to use them.
Concessions will be payable by credit or debit card only. All purchases will be handled by cashless transaction.
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It’s May 1, and the Astros are turning heads—but not for the reasons anyone expected. Their resurgence, driven not by stars like Yordan Alvarez or Christian Walker, but by a cast of less-heralded names, is writing a strange and telling early-season story.
Christian Walker, brought in to add middle-of-the-order thump, has yet to resemble the feared hitter he was in Arizona. Forget the narrative of a slow starter—he’s never looked like this in April. Through March and April of 2025, he’s slashing a worrying .196/.277/.355 with a .632 OPS. Compare that to the same stretch in 2024, when he posted a .283 average, .496 slug, and a robust .890 OPS, and it becomes clear: this is something more than rust. Even in 2023, his April numbers (.248/.714 OPS) looked steadier.
What’s more troubling than the overall dip is when it’s happening. Walker is faltering in the biggest moments. With runners in scoring position, he’s hitting just .143 over 33 plate appearances, including 15 strikeouts. The struggles get even more glaring with two outs—.125 average, .188 slugging, and a .451 OPS in 19 such plate appearances. In “late and close” situations, when the pressure’s highest, he’s practically disappeared: 1-for-18 with a .056 average and a .167 OPS.
His patience has waned (only 9 walks so far, compared to 20 by this time last year), and for now, his presence in the lineup feels more like a placeholder than a pillar.
The contrast couldn’t be clearer when you look at José Altuve—long the engine of this franchise—who, in 2024, delivered in the moments Walker is now missing. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Altuve hit .275 with an .888 OPS. In late and close situations, he thrived with a .314 average and .854 OPS. That kind of situational excellence is missing from this 2025 squad—but someone else may yet step into that role.
And yet—the Astros are winning. Not because of Walker, but in spite of him.
Houston’s offense, in general, hasn’t lit up the leaderboard. Their team OPS ranks 23rd (.667), their slugging 25th (.357), and they sit just 22nd in runs scored (117). They’re 26th in doubles, a rare place for a team built on gap-to-gap damage.
But where there’s been light, it hasn’t come from the usual spots. Jeremy Peña, often overshadowed in a lineup full of stars, now boasts the team’s highest OPS at .791 (Isaac Paredes is second in OPS) and is flourishing in his new role as the leadoff hitter. Peña’s balance of speed, contact, aggression, and timely power has given Houston a surprising tone-setter at the top.
Even more surprising: four Astros currently have more home runs than Yordan Alvarez.
And then there’s the pitching—Houston’s anchor. The rotation and bullpen have been elite, ranking 5th in ERA (3.23), 1st in WHIP (1.08), and 4th in batting average against (.212). In a season where offense is lagging and clutch hits are rare, the arms have made all the difference.
For now, it’s the unexpected contributors keeping Houston afloat. Peña’s emergence. A rock-solid pitching staff. Role players stepping up in quiet but crucial ways. They’re not dominating, but they’re grinding—and in a sluggish AL West, that may be enough.
Walker still has time to find his swing. He showed some signs of life against Toronto and Detroit. If he does, the Astros could become dangerous. If he doesn’t, the turnaround we’re witnessing will be credited to a new cast of unlikely faces. And maybe, that’s the story that needed to be written.
We have so much more to discuss. Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday!
*ChatGPT assisted.
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