For the Houston Astros, this season hasn’t gone according to plan to say the least. AJ Hinch’s club took the first 45 games of the season and went straight Stanley Yelnats, digging themselves a big ass hole in the AL West. Now even though they are currently a sub .500 club, I have had a blast watching and covering the Houston Astros this season. Every game seems to involve some kind of bizarre twist or hilarious moment that we get to talk about the next morning. The Astros are basically an episode of The X-Files: every episode involves some kind of horrific evil and lives lost, but at least it’s entertaining as all hell!
Mulder and Scully could never report to Director Walter Skinner unless they had all of the facts they could possibly scrounge up to support their findings. So in the spirit of Fox and Dana, here are some facts to prove why the 2016 Astros are so damn entertaining:
1. Colby Rasmus sleeps with possums in trees and screams at umpires.
2. No Way Jose Altuve gives us all hope by playing on an MVP level and proving himself to be the “Biggest Little Man” in the sport.
3. There is a sense of danger when going tom Minute Maid Park. Whether it’s the possibility of a renegade locomotive crashing into you, getting into a fight with a visiting troglodyte Rangers fan or having deep fryer oil splash all over you. Going to an Astros game is like a picnic, a sporting event and an amusement park all wrapped into one! (But seriously, how are there nets obstructing first and third base views but damn deep fryers are not safe from George Springer foul balls?)
4. The spectacular can happen at any time. With George Springer ready to make a ridiculous grab at a moment’s notice, Colby Rasmus’ paper thin temper, and Ken Giles reaching 100 mph again; the Astros can and have delivered some truly inspiring and epic moments this season, especially for team with a garbage record.
5. Almost every game is close. The Astros have played six extra inning games and have been in 16 1-run games this season. Now if they could just learn how to win those close games and get out of the AL West cellar, we could be talking about an exciting team that actually wins!
6. Finally, even their crappy players make entertaining commercials……..