White Sox were thinking about blowing it allowing the Rangers to load the bases up 4 in the ninth but held on. First place

Josh Hader

This team.

So many emotions, but that was a big win. I wish we would use Hader more when we just need 1 more out in the 8th.

This Division is so bad. If Crane and Dana had been on the same page it would not have taken the ghost of Mickey Mantle to win it. Just 2 slightly better than average OFers. One RHH and one LHH. They got one average LHH. They just needed to have the balls to get a RHH.

Mariners on the verge of taking the first two vs the Phillies. Got to get at least one more against the Yanks and hopefully hold serve.

FYI, This guys says naughty words.

ASTROS STILL OWN OUR ASS!!!! pic.twitter.com/2ZCUTHy81t

— Big Nick Turturro (@NickTurturro1) August 26, 2026

Still blows my mind that the Pirates got both Brandon Lowe and Mason Montgomery (and Jake Mangum) because the Astros wanted Mike Burrows.

Yeah, what were the Rays smoking?

It's sort of hard to overstate how difficult this is to do in late August. Whatever is motivating Yainer, get it kid!

Yainer Diaz has raised his OPS by 40 points tonight — from .672 to .712.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) August 26, 2026

linkdude said:

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It's sort of hard to overstate how difficult this is to do in late August. Whatever is motivating Yainer, get it kid!

Yainer Diaz has raised his OPS by 40 points tonight — from .672 to .712.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) August 26, 2026

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It seems like he does this once every 3-4 weeks the past few seasons.

Yordan raised his Yankee Stadium career OPS to 1.164 last night

he has 12 x-base hits in 72 at-bats in the Bronx

W said:

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Yordan raised his Yankee Stadium career OPS to 1.164 last night

he has 12 x-base hits in 72 at-bats in the Bronx

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So very slightly above average for him

Elmer Rodriguez will start for the Yankees tonight.

— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) August 26, 2026

TRM said:

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Elmer Rodriguez will start for the Yankees tonight.

— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) August 26, 2026

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Astros Bingo Update: 8-26-26
Spreadsheet Link



SQUARE ALERT: Alex Bregman played in his 130th game for the Cubs last night, activating that square. Picking it up were:

RO519, his 3rd
wmitchell, his 6th
1836er, his 4th

DOOM & GLOOM SQUARE ALERT:
Yanier Diaz reached 10 homers for the year to trigger a square which about 70% of people picked.


Stats That Are Hilarious Because They're Not About Us
#1 The Blue Jays only have 2 guys with 10+ homers on the season. Their fat-ass first baseman has 26 and George has 12. They are tied for last in the AL with 124. The Astros have 176.

#2 Evan Carter is trying to become the first Ranger in 51 years to have 502 plate appearances and a sub-.200 batting average. He is at .196 through 113 games. In 1975, Jim Sundberg hit .199, going an ungodly 94-for-472. I know what you're thinking what about Joseph Tiberius Gallo? He never gave it a whirl? In 2021, King Donkey hit .199, but he was hitting .223 with Texas when they cruelly traded him to the Yankees, where he hit a cool .160 with 88 strikeouts in 58 games.

Astros' Flashback: August 26, 2007: The Astros retire Jeff Bagwell's number 5 jersey to the rafters, where he joins Jim Umbricht, Don Wilson, Jose Cruz, Nolan Ryan, Jimmy Wynn, Mike Scott, and Larry Dierker. Bagwell is the only Astro (until October maybe) to win both Rookie of the Year and MVP over the course of his career. He redefines the team's record books for power hitters, leading the league in WAR twice, games played 4 times, runs 3 times, doubles once, RBI once, walks once, slugging once, and OPS once. His 1994 strike and injury shortened season features a .750 slugging percentage, the highest in baseball since Babe Ruth's .772 in 1927.
Drayton McLane kept it classy by waiting until the next day to fire Phil Garner and Tim Purpurra.

YOUR DAILY CUP OF HOFA
Just a reminder, it's hump day.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7538910/2026/08/25/qa-astros-jim-crane-joe-espada-decisions/

Quote:

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Will there be a front-facing member of the baseball operations department? I know you're overseeing it, but just on a day-to-day basis, will there be one person?

The AGMs will continue to do what they do, which really covers off most everything. Jeff is around on a daily basis as an adviser and they know, if they need me, they can call me.

Given the potential labor uncertainty this offseason, will you want to have someone in place before the CBA expires?

We'll kind of tend to business as usual and get the team lined up, ready to go next year and hope for the best.

---

Quote:

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Is Jeff Bagwell a candidate to become the full-time GM?

We don't have any candidates at this point. We haven't even started looking. Jeff's in the same role he's always been he's a senior adviser and he works with the (assistant general managers) and myself and assists when necessary.

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Stros are 1-0 in the Jeff Bagwell era pic.twitter.com/Nevrxxq3oE

— Trevor Rush Hour Hauer🚗 (@trevhauer) August 26, 2026

As the Astros begin their search for a new GM, former @MLB infielder Will Rhymes is one name to watch.

Key member of the Dodgers front office with a focus on player development, an area of need for the Astros. He’s a Houston native and has strong ties to the city.@MLBNetwork

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) August 26, 2026

I was just looking at some of the picks I made for Astros Bingo

Altuve H leader (LOL) he's 50 behind Yordan

Pena is 2 SB behind Cam

Walker only has 3 HR to go to >25 so I think he'll manage it with ~40 games to go

Imai <3.50 looks like a loser too

Bregman needs 2 HR to go to >20 with ~40 games so that looks like it might happen

Tuck ain't making >25 HR

87 wins doesn't look like it's happening either

where is imai

Big Al 1992 said:

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Stros are 1-0 in the Jeff Bagwell era pic.twitter.com/Nevrxxq3oE

— Trevor Rush Hour Hauer🚗 (@trevhauer) August 26, 2026

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I don't know how anyone takes any advice about any decisions from a guy who makes THAT decision with his facial hair.

interesting that for as slow as we are, we rank highly here (probably because we hit a LOT of singles)

Going From First To Third On Singles This Year:

111 DET
91 LAD
90 KC
89 HOU
86 MIL
85 STL
84 CLE
82 ATL
81 CHC
80 BAL
79 WSH TB SF
74 CWS
72 PIT MIA
71 NYM
70 SD BOS
68 COL TOR
64 LAA
63 SEA MIN
62 NYY ARI
59 PHI
58 ATH
55 CIN
54 TEX

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) August 26, 2026

Mr.Bond said:

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where is imai

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he's usually sitting in the dugout and/or bullpen during games while he digests his pregame meal.

Pride of West U Little League!

bodaciousbood14 said:

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I was just looking at some of the picks I made for Astros Bingo

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Lane Kiffin is trying his best to get suspended to make my tie breaker prediction stand up. Encouraging NFL players to sue the NCAA is the hard work I expected from Lane to make this dream come true.

https://www.dazn.com/en-US/news/american-football/lane-kiffin-sec-lsu-college-football-daequan-wright-2026/1x2lek38klmkq1jvjplbxpt92s

speaking of Detroit...

the Tigers (62-71) have just about checked out of the wildcard race

A couple of starting pitching stats from an ESPN article:

- Houston's staff ERA is 5.19, which is surprisingly not last in MLB (28th)
- Astros are on pace for the lowest rotation WAR in franchise history.
- It's been nearly 50 years since any staff (in baseball) walked more batters than the 2026 Astros.

Crane spent all the pitching money on Imai, which left Dana very few dollars to scrape the bottom of the talent barrel. They both failed.

I'm still stunned that the Astros devised a plan around HB, Imai, Arrighetti, surgery guys returning, and bottom dollar free agents.

Weiss- demoted
Burrows- demoted
LMJ- gone
Arrighetti- gone
Javier- 8+ ERA in 8 starts
Blanco- 7+ ERA in 5 starts
Imai- moved to the pen, and used sparingly

Woof

An Astros Bingo Addendum: Big Al 1992 also got a square for Bregman 130+ games played.

That makes Big Al the first person to reach 7 squares this year.

10 squares was the winning number in 2025.

With a month to go, there are 13 people who I think have a legit shot at 10.

RED AG 98
Marvin
spadilly
JYDog90
CFTXAG10
Johnny Foosball
Teddy Perkins
OPAG
cmk10
3B Paul 97
LonestarAg09
Big Al 1992
1836er

Teddy Perkins remains the favorite to win, with OPAG second just based on the paces right now. Tie-breakers are likely to weigh heavily on final standings. Which means iBrad needs the team to go ahead and finish the year 28-2 to get to his gaudy 94-68 preseason prediction.

We rank low in baserunning advancing. Maybe just weirdly get that opportunity often.

Marvin said:

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A couple of starting pitching stats from an ESPN article:

- Houston's staff ERA is 5.19, which is surprisingly not last in MLB (28th)
- Astros are on pace for the lowest rotation WAR in franchise history.
- It's been nearly 50 years since any staff (in baseball) walked more batters than the 2026 Astros.

Crane spent all the pitching money on Imai, which left Dana very few dollars to scrape the bottom of the talent barrel. They both failed.

I'm still stunned that the Astros devised a plan around HB, Imai, Arrighetti, surgery guys returning, and bottom dollar free agents.

Weiss- demoted
Burrows- demoted
LMJ- gone
Arrighetti- gone
Javier- 8+ ERA in 8 starts
Blanco- 7+ ERA in 5 starts
Imai- moved to the pen, and used sparingly

Woof

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Yep It blows. Crane the owner should fire Crane the pseudo GM because he has no clue what a quality ML pitcher looks like.

Mathguy is already shuddering at the "second to home" numbers. Those have to be bottom five in the league.

Hot take here...

Crane didn't sign Imai because of the quality of pitcher he is. He signed him because he wanted to get a ticket on the Daikin/Japanese sponsor train.

Baseball took a backseat to business.

On paper, Imai looked like an awesome signing.

Not Astros related. Sitting at Caesars sports book outside Chase Field. Elvis is here for the Cubs Diamondbacks game too.