I am super excited about the next 9 games. 40% into the season, these two teams are a combined, incredible, 52 games above .500. I won’t say that this is the Astros “first real test “because they have been playing major-league baseball teams all season long, which is a real enough test. But, this will be their first extended swing through top-tier, playoff caliber teams on the road. I am excited to see 1) how the pitching staff, both starting and relief, holds up and 2) to see if this offense raises to the challenge. Anecdotally speaking, this team appears to continue to play up (or down) to the competition, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
Really looking forward to the next week and a half.
The double header is July 21, so they are just squeezing the Yankees in when they can (one on Thursday June 30 and two on Thursday July 21, which were both previously off days). So it’s 9 games in 10 days against NY opponents, both home and away, but that’s tucked into a stretch of 19 games in 20 days.