ATTENDANCE MATTERS

How Astros historic benchmarks are in some ways being overshadowed

Astros Martin Maldonado, Dusty Baker, Yainer Diaz
It's time for some Astros number crunching. Composite Getty Image.

Let’s crunch some Astros numbers.

With five home games left in the regular season – and the American League West pennant still up for grabs – it’s practically guaranteed that the Astros will top 3 million attendance this season for only the fifth time in their history.

But unless the fire marshal looks the other way, the Astros will fall just short of breaking their all-time attendance mark of 3,087,872 fans set in 2004.

The other years that the Astros topped 3 million fans were 2007 (3,020,045), 2006 (3,022,763), and 2000 (3,056,139). The Astros moved into Minute Maid Park, capacity 41,000 fans, in 2000.

The Astros played their first three years as the Colt .45’s in steamy, mosquito-plagued, open-air Colt Stadium from 1962-65. The first MLB team in Texas wasn’t exactly an instant success. While Colt Stadium held 33,000 fans, the team drew an average crowd of only 11,274 its debut season. Attendance dipped below 10,000 per game the next two seasons before the Colt .45’s became the Astros and moved into the world’s first multipurpose domed stadium.

Despite the Astrodome holding 52,000 fans for baseball, the Astros never drew 3 million fans to the Dome for indoor baseball.

Proving that size doesn’t matter (thank goodness), the MLB team with the current largest-capacity stadium is the Oakland A’s. Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum holds 56,782 fans. The MLB team with the smallest attendance this year … the Oakland A’s, averaging only 10,509 fans.

Crunch on: beating the dead horse that Yanier Diaz should be the Astros everyday catcher instead of Martin Maldonado.

Maldonado is batting .191. Diaz is batting .321 when he gets to play catcher. While objects may be closer than they appear and your mileage may vary, if Diaz had been behind the plate during games that Maldonado played, he would have swatted 46 more base hits than Maldonado managed.

With the American League West bunched up for first place, I’m sure Dusty Baker would trade his stubbornness for 46 additional hits (instead of outs) this season. Every inch counts in a pennant race and Diaz is a miles better hitter than Maldonado.

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Kyle Tucker returns to Houston this weekend. Composite Getty Image.

Two first-place teams, identical records, and a weekend set with serious measuring-stick energy.

The Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs open a three-game series Friday night at Daikin Park, in what could quietly be one of the more telling matchups of the summer. Both teams enter at 48-33, each atop their respective divisions — but trending in slightly different directions.

The Astros have been red-hot, going 7-3 over their last 10 while outscoring opponents by 11 runs. They've done it behind one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, with a collective 3.41 ERA that ranks second in the American League. Houston has also been dominant at home, where they’ve compiled a 30-13 record — a stat that looms large heading into this weekend.

On the other side, the Cubs have held their ground in the NL Central but have shown some recent shakiness. They're 5-5 over their last 10 games and have given up 5.66 runs per game over that stretch. Still, the offense remains dangerous, ranking fifth in on-base percentage across the majors. Kyle Tucker leads the way with a .287 average, 16 homers, and 49 RBIs, while Michael Busch has been hot of late, collecting 12 hits in his last 37 at-bats.

Friday’s pitching matchup features Houston’s Brandon Walter (0-1, 3.80 ERA, 1.10 WHIP) and Chicago’s Cade Horton (3-1, 3.73 ERA, 1.29 WHIP), a promising young arm making one of his biggest starts of the season on the road. Horton will have his hands full with Isaac Paredes, who’s slugged 16 homers on the year, and Mauricio Dubón, who’s found a groove with four home runs over his last 10 games.

It’s the first meeting of the season between these two clubs — and if the trends continue, it may not be the last time they cross paths when it really counts.

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Astros -112, Cubs -107; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

Here's a preview of Joe Espada's Game 1 lineup.

The first thing that stands out is rookie Cam Smith is hitting cleanup, followed by Jake Meyers. Victor Caratini is the DH and is hitting sixth. Christian Walker is all the way down at seventh, followed by Yainer Diaz, and Taylor Trammell who is playing left field.

How the mighty have fallen.

Pretty wild to see Walker and Diaz hitting this low in the lineup. However, it's justified, based on performance. Walker is hitting a pathetic .214 and Diaz is slightly better sporting a .238 batting average.

Screenshot via: MLB.com



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