WILD CARD SERIES, GAME 1: The Houston Astros (81-81, AL West Champions) will host the Chicago White Sox (84-78, Third Wild Card) for Game 1 of the 2026 American League Wild Card Series today at Daikin Park. It’s an unorthodox pitching matchup today to open a playoff series between RHP AJ Blubugh (5-3, 3.66 ERA) and LHP Hagen Smith (3-3, 1.29 ERA), who are both rookie relievers.
ELIAS SAYS: Per Elias, with RHP AJ Blubaugh (3 career starts) and LHP Hagen Smith (1 career start) starting against each
other today, this becomes the second instance where both starters of a playoff game each entered with three-or-fewer career starts. This also happened in Game 5 of the 2020 ALCS between the Astros (RHP Luis Garcia) and the Rays (RHP John Curtiss).
IN THE POSTSEASON: The Astros are making their 19th postseason appearance in club history in what is the 65th year of the franchise that began in 1962. This season marks the 14th time in club history for the Astros to enter the postseason as a division winner. The Astros have won three different divisions in their history, the NL West (1980, 1986), NL Central (1997-99, 2001) and AL West (2017-19, 2021-24, 2026).
SINCE 2015: After a one-year hiatus, the Astros are back in the postseason for the 10th time in the last 12 seasons (dating back to the 2015 season). The Astros join the Dodgers and Yankees as the only teams in the Majors to qualify for the postseason in at least 10 of the last 12 years.
POSTSEASON VETS: Since 2015, the Astros have played more postseason games (105) and have earned more postseason wins (62) than any other AL club. The Astros are 62-43 in that span for a .590 winning pct. in the postseason.
WILD CARD BOUND: The Astros are playing in the Wild Card round for the fourth time in their postseason history. The Astros are 3-2 all-time in the Wild Card round, dispatching the Yankees in the one-game playoff in 2015, sweeping the Twins in the 2020 Wild Card Series and getting swept by the Tigers in the 2024 Wild Card Series.
THE PEACOCK BROADCAST: This series will be exclusively televised by Peacock/NBCSN. Tom McCarthy will serve as play-by-play man alongside analysts Geoff Blum and Steve Stone. Adam Ottavino and Britney Eurton will work sideline duties for the telecast.
TODAY’S POSTGAME SHOW: Following every game of this Wild Card Series, Space City Home Network will air a live 30-minute postgame show, which will be hosted by Kevin Eschenfelder and Todd Kalas. The show will be hosted from the SCHN set on the center field concourse.
VS. THE WHITE SOX: The Astros and White Sox are meeting each other for their third all-time postseason series against each other, the others being the 2005 World Series and the 2021 ALDS. The White Sox swept the Astros in 2005, while the Astros dispatched the Sox in 2021 in four games. History aside, the Astros went 5-2 against the White Sox this season, including a 3-1 record at Daikin Park.
AT THE HELM: Astros manager Joe Espada has guided the Astros to the postseason in two of his three seasons as the Astros manager since taking over before the 2024 season. Espada has posted a 256-229 regular season record in his three years as the Astros manager and ranks ninth in club history in managerial wins.
ABOUT THE ROSTER: The Astros have set their Wild Card Series roster, which includes 12 pitchers and 14 position players. 13 players on the roster have no postseason playing experience, including five position players and eight pitchers. In addition to their active roster, the Astros will carry 16 players with them throughout the postseason on their Taxi Squad.
GOIN’ DEEP: The Astros hit 226 homers as a team this year, which were the most in the Majors. The last time the Astros led the Majors in home runs was in 2000, when they hit 249 homers. The 2026 Astros also led the AL in SLG (.417) and OPS (.732).
ANNUAL HOUSTON BBWAA AWARDS: The Houston Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America announced the 2026 Astros award winners as follows:
• Astros MVP: Yordan Alvarez
• Astros Pitcher of the Year: Peter Lambert
• Astros Rookie of the Year: AJ Blubaugh
• Darryl Kile Good Guy Award: Bryan Abreu
• Fred Hartman Long and Meritorious Service to Baseball Award: Brent Strom
THE CASE FOR THE MVP: DH Yordan Alvarez is a solid candidate for the AL MVP Award. Alvarez led the AL in OPS (1.033), slugging percentage (.601), OBP (.432), batting average (.316), total bases (341), walks (109), IBB (33), WRC (154), OPS+ (192) and extra-base hits (77). He also ranked second in RBI (106), second in hits (179), tied for second in home runs (42), tied for third in runs (105), and tied for fourth in doubles (34).
COMING UP BIG: 2B Jose Altuve ranks second in postseason history in HR (27), second in runs (89), third in hits (118), tied for third in extra-base hits (48), sixth in games (105) and seventh in RBI (56)
YOU’RE MY BOY BLU!: RHP A.J. Blubaugh was a workhorse in the Astros bullpen this season, as he led the Majors in innings pitched as a reliever (96.0), topping second-place LHP Aaron Ashby (87.0) by a full 9.0 innings. Blubaugh also led the Majors with 27 relief appearances of 2.0+ innings, with 16 of those being scoreless appearances. Blubaugh is the first Astros pitcher to lead their league in relief innings since RHP Doug Jones in 1992 (111.2 IP).
THE FIREMAN: LHP Josh Hader converted all 26 of his save chances this season. He is the seventh pitcher in MLB history to post 26-plus saves without a blown save. The last Major Leaguer to do so was RHP Ken Giles in 2018 (26 SV).
TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY: 2020 – After a 60-game regular season, in which the Astros went 29-31, the Astros open the postseason with a 4-1 win over the Twins in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series at MIN. With the game tied 1-1 heading into the 9th, the Astros rally for three in the top half, scoring their runs on a bases-loaded walk by 2B Jose Altuve and a two-run single by DH Michael Brantley. LHP Framber Valdez (0ER/5IP) earned the win after backing up starter RHP Zack Greinke (1ER/4IP).
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Tuesday, September 29, 4:10 p.m. CT
Location: Daikin Park, Houston, TX
TV: Peacock/NBCSN
Radio: KBME 790 AM & 94.5 HD2 FM; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)
