Preseason Preview Day 5: Houston Astros & Atlanta Braves
Houston Astros
Daikin Park, the new home for the Houston Astros. Seriously, how could they get rid of the name Minutemaid Park??
For the first time in 7 years, the Houston Astros got beat prior to the ALCS. What a breath of fresh air, as the upstart Tigers were able to take them down in 2 games in MINUTEMAID PARK. It has been a fairly eventful offseason for these Astros, as they have made some key additions and subtractions, with some future moves pending.
To start, they traded one of the leagues best players away to the Cubs in Kyle Tucker in exchange for Isaac Paredes and others. There is no secret that the Astros aren’t the biggest spenders in the league, as their ownership has been pretty vocal about what they are willing to spend and who they are willing to keep. They’ve let franchise cornerstones walk in Carlos Correa and George Springer, as well as having Gerrit Cole in his prime walk out the door without making a competitive offer. With Kyle Tucker approaching free agency, they certainly wanted to at least get something in return, thus trading him away. On top of Paredes, who will likely play third (as of now), the Astros added slugger and gold glover first baseman Christian Walker. They will supplement Jose Altuve and the best left handed hitter in baseball, Yordan Alvarez, in an effort to reload instead of rebuild. Let’s not forget, 2 time WS champ Alex Bregman is still a free agent, and there has been little mentioned of the Astros wanting to bring him back with the Paredes move blocking third base.
At the end of the day, the Astros are still the Astros. Draftkings has their win total at 87.5, I will hesitantly take the under on this total. I think 2025 is the year that the Mariners make the jump to being a legit contender, and the Rangers are looking to be a force within the division as well. Houston’s rotation is not as strong as it has been in recent years, and by trading away Ryan Pressly their bullpen is taking a hit as well. I do think they will be right in the mix for the third wild card, but have my doubts about this version of the team being able to make much noise in 2025.
Atlanta Braves
Another one of the most dominant teams over the past decade or so, the Atlanta Braves. The 2024 Braves were plagued by injuries all season long, be it 2023 MVP Ronald Acuna Jr., Cy Young hopeful Spencer Strider, Austin Riley, Sean Murphy, among many others.
Even with all these massive injuries, the Braves still managed to sneak into the playoffs. In the midst of the Dodgers turning into the Avengers of baseball, I think the Atlanta Braves have almost been forgotten about. They have one of, if not most talented cores in all of baseball - Riley, Albies, Olson, Acuna, Harris, Strider, Schwellenbach. Not to mention, they are returning 2024 NL Cy Young Chris Sale and while also adding a strong veteran outfielder, Jurickson Profar, to the mix. With the Phillies being the Phillies, the Mets making the splashy Soto move among others and the Nationals having a young core primed to explode in the coming few years, it feels as though the Braves are a sleeping giant.
Draftkings Sportsbook has their win total at 92.5, this is another over I am going to be hammering home. In our Dodgers preview, I had mentioned that I see them falling short. Well, that is because I have the Atlanta Braves going to the World Series in 2025. Call me crazy, call me delusional, I don’t particularly care as only time will be able to prove me to be a dumbass.
