Astros Crawfish Boil

Astros Crawfish Boil: October 5th, 2020

If I have to drink a few beers at three in the afternoon because of a baseball schedule, well that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make

By CKuno Oct 5, 2020, 10:35am CDT

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Wild Card Round - Houston Astros v Minnesota Twins - Game Two

Check out the rest of the Crawfish Boxes here and listen to the latest version of Locked on Astros, our partnered podcast, here.

Astros News

It’ll be Lance McCullers and Framber Valdez for Games 1 and 2 against the A’s (Astros.com)
And for Lance, that will mean showing off his expanded repertoire in a playoff setting (Texas Sports Nation, $$$)
As for Valdez, his curveball may just prove pivotal for the Astros - A’s series (MLB.com)
Here’s how the Astros’ pitching staff will try to navigate a five game series with no days off (Astros.com)
But the bats coming alive might be what’s needed the most in this series (Astros.com)
Bob Melvin and Dusty Baker have taken long, intertwined paths through baseball to end up managing against each other in the DS (The Athletic, $$$)
After 18 years, the Astros’ affiliation with the Tri-City ValleyCats may be coming to a close (Times-Union)

Around the League

Here is the schedule for the Division Series games in case anyone still needs it (MLB.com)
And for the AL it’s going to be all about bad blood between the teams (The Ringer)
Here are all the 16 potential World Series matchups still left (AP News)
So what have we learned from last week’s crazy sprint of Wild Card games? (Sports Illustrated)
The Supreme Court will allow a class action suit from minor league players to proceed as they fight for a fair wage (AP News)
The Cardinals are planning for 2021, but are still awaiting decisions from Molina and Wainwright before they proceed (MLB Trade Rumors)