THANKFUL: Houston Astros Fans SAVE on Playoff Agony – 25 Things to be Thankful For

THANKFUL: Houston Astros Fans SAVE on Playoff Agony – 25 Things to be Thankful For

The Houston Astros didn’t make the playoffs in 2025, but that just means we saved dress a lot of money on postseason tickets for Christmas. Here are 25 things we are weirdly thankful for from the 2025 season. Yas, this is Locked On Astros. Hello and welcome to Locked on Astros, your daily Astros podcast. Here are your hosts, Eric the Man Heisman and Brett Htown Wheelhouse Chansy. We are Locked on Houston Astros and we hope that you join us for a daily locked on Astros podcast. My name is Eric Heisman. My co-host is Brett Jansy. We are the Locked On Astros podcast, part of the number one podcasting network out there, the Locked On Network. And go and check out the number one Astros podcast out there, the Locked on Astros podcast. You know who we are. We’ve been doing this for a combined 18 years. And we’ll be here all off season to walk you through whatever chaos Dana Brown, Jim Crane, Carlos Craya, if he is the assistant to assistant um manager in this situation. We’ll go ahead and talk about this all off season. Thank you for becoming everydayers, people that listen to our podcast every day and we appreciate each one of y’all that have been there since the very beginning. So, thank you for all that and go and make us your first listen. Apple Odyssey, Spotify, wherever you listen your podcast, go and check us out. And today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Download the app today. So guys, we are thankful for the Houston Astros. There are so many reasons to be thankful for the Houston Astros. I found 25 of them and we’re going to go and talk about those 25 things. I know that some of them are a little bit funny. They’re meant to be humorous and I wanted to since the Astros fell one game short of the playoffs this year, I wanted to do something a little bit different. Instead of just highlighting things the Astros did good this year to get to the playoffs or get to where they wanted to be, I want to just kind of throw in some humor and I’m going to talk to Brett and maybe we can do a um like at right before New Year’s, maybe we could do some type of roast of the Houston Astros. So, I was just think I was just thinking about that as we’re doing this. So, um this is not in any type of particular order, but let’s just go ahead and do the top 25 reasons to be thankful for the 2025 season as Astros fans. So, let’s go and get started. The Astros did not finish last in the AL West. It’s a small victory, but even the tiny microscopic ones count. So, they finished one game short of where they finished last year and uh one game short of making the playoffs. I know the Mariners were clearly the favorite in the AL West, but there was a time where they were at the bottom of the AL West when they start off the season so bad. So, the fact that they did not finish last in this division that started off meh whatever. Uh the fact that they did not finish last is pretty good accomplishment. So that’s number one. Number two, young guys got legit MLB playing time because half of the roster was in the IIL, but still it’s experience. So you’re talking about guys like Cam Smith, you’re talking about all the guys that came up. uh just Zack Cole, like who would have thought that Zack Cole would become a big name on everybody’s shopping list this Christmas, but that’s the case. You’ve got people like Jason Alexander, um just a bunch of people that kind of came out of nowhere, but you needed this. We saw this during the 2020 season, the COVID season as well, but you sometimes have to have these guys kind of come out of where out of nowhere and kind of contribute. The Astros farm system is not the strongest. It’s one of the worst in baseball. Uh but the Astros somehow finds found some people to help in 2025. Number three, the rotation didn’t completely explode in August. It was just lightly smoked, a slow burn, manageable fire. We all know that they, like I said, they fell one game short. If maybe Valdez had a better start here or there, if maybe um Jason Alexander didn’t have that one bad start against the Seattle Mariners, uh you could point to any pitcher like Hunter Brown, he even had a couple bad starts down the stretch. So you can look at any starter, Christian Javier, he was good here, he was bad there, good here, bad there, bad there. So, if you had a little bit more consistency towards the end, maybe we’d be talking about a different outcome to 2025 season, but it wasn’t a bonfire. It wasn’t a dumpster fire. It was just a bad uh the the starting rotation just wasn’t as good as it was to start the season. So, I guess the question was, if the Astros did make to the playoffs, would you have been confident with the Astros rotation outside of Palmer Valdez, Hunter Brown, and surprisingly enough, Jason Alexander? So, we’ll talk about Jason Alexander in a second. Number four on the list is Christian Walker. He had 27 homers, 88 RBI’s in 150 games. He was a strong veteran presence there, but he was also the scapegoat of the season. Everybody’s finger is pointed to it’s his fault. Trade him. I think a lot of it has to do with the money that the Astros paid him. A lot of money. Three years, $60 million, 20 million per season. He was supposed to come in and be that guy that the Astros were missing at first base since Yoli Guerrero left, but he wasn’t that guy at first, but he came on in the second half. 27 homers, 88 RBI’s. He still got the job done. and it may not have been what he’s done previously with the Diamondbacks, but with a better hitting coach, maybe a different philosophy, maybe we’ll see a different Christian Walker in 2026. Maybe that’s something we can also roast um on New Year’s, but we’ll talk about that later. Number five, Jake Meyers hit 292 in 104 games. He finally showed that he could be offensive, the offensive presence I think the Astros really really thought he could have been in the first place. He uh missed some time, yes, but when he came back, he contributed. Maybe not at the same rate he did before, but he really really helped them, but he also became a really valuable trade piece this off season. And I don’t know if the Astros are going to really invest in somebody like Jake Meyers. I think they really got some bigger fish to fry, so to speak. So maybe you can get a starting pitcher, maybe a valuable reliever in um in a transaction with him. So who knows? It just depends on uh do you think that you have a center fielder in place? Cam Smith, can he move to center field? Can Cole play center field? Can Jacob Melton be everyday center fielder? These are all the questions that Dana Brown is going to sleep every night asking himself. But Jake Myers, you really have have to be thankful for what he did in 2025. And Brian Abrau number six. I know he struggled a little bit as a closer, but he had a 2.28 erra in 71 innings. He stepped in as the closer when Josh her and I probably should talk about Josh her. This dude when he was not hurt, he was one of the best closers in the game. They it really showed why the Astros went out there and gave him that huge contract. But then he had his first injury that he’s had his entire career. And so Josh her I guess we can throw these both guy both these guys in together like Brian and Brayu he stepped in when Josh her went down but unfortunately he may not have that closer like bulldog mentality. So, who knows what’s going to happen with a Breu, but Josh her, man, when he was healthy, he was one of the best guys out there. So, uh, real quickly, I’ll go and do number seven before our first break. Jose Altuve. I know a lot of people have have said I’ve been very critical of Jose Altuve, but he still hit 26 home runs, had 77 RBI’s. He had 1565 games playing uh left field, second base, DH. He played 47 games in uh left field, 66 games at second base, and 49 games as a designated hitter. At one point it was pretty much a um three-way split, but then he started playing more second base after the Carlos Cray acquisition and uh Cole started playing a little bit more. But when batting third, he had some dynamic stats. When batting third in the lineup, he hit 276 with a 338 on base percentage, 516 slugging, 854 with 20 home runs, 54 RBI’s. And as a left fielder, he um he actually did better as a DH with a 816 on OPS with 10 home runs with a 268 batting average. So overall, he’s a better DH at this stage of his career and batting third. So just chew on that as you’re uh celebrating Thanksgiving with your family. So guys, thank you for making Locked on Astros podcast your first listen every day. What is on YouTube? Go and subscribe to us. Go and make us first listen in 2026 and the rest of 2025. Um when we get back, we’ll go and continue this list. Thank you for making the Locked On Astros podcast, the number one Astros podcast out there. Part of the number one locked on podcast network. Hey guys, let’s go and talk about FanDuel. I know right now it’s football season and you got baseball going on. So there’s just so much not baseball but football and basketball. There’s so much going on right now. So I know baseball’s not here but there’s no better place to get into the action like FanDuel, the official betting partner of the NBA. 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So, we are doing the 25 reasons to be thankful as a Astros fan for the 2025 season. I know it seems a little bleak because they had 87 wins. All they needed was one more win to basically get into the postseason, but you can cry over spilled milk or you just look forward to next season. But right now, we are looking at um things that I just came up with. Some of these are meant to be funny, some of them are really serious. So, um, Esso Parades, this number eight, became the king of professional at bats. He hit so many line drives that stack casts considered filing a restraining order. We’re talking about a dude that missed so much time, but he still had a 352 on base percentage, slug 458, had a 810 on base percentage, and a 123 on base. So, sorry on OPS+ in limited games. He only had like he missed so much time just because of the hamstring injury and he’s still not fully recovered from that. And the fact that he came back to try to play to get the Astros into the postseason and if uh to play in the postseason should the Astros have made it, you should be really thankful for what Eso Pardes gave to this team. Hopefully, um, the Astros don’t trade him. Hopefully, the Astros can figure out a way where they can play him. So, it’s going to be a lot of rotations. You’re going to be seeing players playing a lot of different places. Let’s go and go on to number nine, Hunter Brown. Of course, we all kind of thought that he was a very good pitcher, but um he has 2.43 RA in 185 innings. He had a 12-9 record, but he also had 206 strikeouts in those 185 innings. He also had 24 scoreless inning streak. And um he finished third in the AL Sion vote. We understand that. But, um, the fact that he was in that, uh, it gives the Astros a, uh, PPI pick, meaning they get a first round pick in 2026. Assuming they don’t trade for a, uh, a player, a free agent that has a qualifying offer attached, that means they may lose that pick. So, just something to be thankful for. Um, number 10, they managed to remain competitive on offense despite major injuries to Jordan Alvarez. Pena missed some time, Isach Parades missed a lot of time. I can go throughout the whole list, but at one point you had 18 players on the IIL. And I believe that the Astros led the league in um games missed by uh just a wide margin. And the fact that the Astros were so close to the playoffs, that means a lot. And it got also gave all these other players a lot of playing time. So, uh, the fact that they remain competitive, especially without Alvarez in the lineup, that’s really good. So, number 11, the Astros ranked well in avoiding cast uh catastrophic defensive breakdowns. Even though the runs allowed weren’t wildly inflated, uh they allowed 665 runs in uh 2025. A lot of that has to do with the pitching. A lot of that of that has to do with the defense. I know that you had a pretty good defense out there. Uh this is where I’m going to talk about Cam Smith. You really can’t say a lot of good things about his offense because he didn’t really come out offensively this year, but defensively defensively the fact that he was in the top three for the gold glove when he was a third baseman for most of his life and he goes out there and finishes in the top three in a gold glove in right field. You have Jake Meyers out there in center field and we’re not going to sugarcoat it and say that Altuve or Alvarez are gold glovers in left field, but you have a infield that’s pretty much um gold glove type material. So you have a pretty good defensive team. I know the catchers could use some work, but the fact that they can go out there and um prevent some runs is pretty good job. But um that’s why they want to keep Altuve away from second base because he’s just not that good a defender there. So um they went to um for number 12 they turned to younger Arms uh and Unknown Arms and got contributions. Uh you’re talking about uh players that you’ve never heard of like Stephen O Kurt I guess. Um, some of these guys you’ve heard of, but it just was a situation where you went to a lot of players that you never heard of and it’s just amazing. Like Jason Alexander, uh, just all the names that the Astros had to go to, Colton Gordon, there’s just names that you’re like, wait, who are these guys? Del Santos. There’s just so many different names the Astros went to. and the fact that they contributed, the fact that they actually helped you get to where you wanted to be, that was a that was pretty impressive for the season. So, um that was a good thing. Um sorry, I got lost my place. Um let’s go ahead and go to um the Pythag I’m exmath teacher. So, they prevented runs way better than their Pythagoream expectations. 665 runs allowed. They scored 686, indicating pitching and defense helped hold the opponents below what the offense gave them. Uh we know that the offense was uh something that struggled throughout the the season, but the pitching did its job to basically try to help as much as possible. It just was the offense was not really good enough to get the job done. And that’s something that the Astros did to bring in the new hitting coaches to try to fix things, try to have a new philosophy and just get things going because if the Astros pitching continues to do what they did last year and the offense continues to develop, especially if Cam Smith figures a way to hit more regularly than you, uh, if um, Cole becomes the guy that Dana Brown thinks he’s going to become. And if you have maybe Christian Walker take that step forward like he did before, I think that this team could be a better team. So, um, the dynasty isn’t dead. It’s just recharging. The 2025 tested everybody’s patience, but the core piece is some farm talent and future payroll. Well, let’s just say some future uh payroll flexibility makes 2026 a lot brighter. It just depends on what they do with that. Um, and before we go to the next break, number 15, there are fewer heartbreaks. When I say heartbreaks, I mean those oneun losses, mostly because they weren’t in a lot of one-run games. Problem solved. But in 2025, they were 27 and 17. In 2024, they’re 18 and 27. So that is one fewer one run game. Just something to chew on. So guys, thank you for making Lockdown Astros podcast your first listen every day. Whether it’s on YouTube, go and subscribe to us. Go make first listen Apple Odyssey, Spotify, wherever you’re listening podcast, go and check us out. Hey guys, thank you for making Lockdown Astros podcast your first listen every day. If I have not already done so, happy Thanksgiving to those of y’all to celebrate and those of y’all outside of the country. Uh, excuse the Thanksgiving reference, but you still probably have something that you can be thankful for. So, uh, we’re just kind of going over a lot of things that we are as Astros fans should be thankful for. So, let’s go ahead and talk about number 16. Jeremy Pena found his power button again. It was behind the fridge the whole time. I mean, especially once he found it and started batting lead off. You’re talking about a guy in bat in 96 games. He slashed 317, 372, 501, 873 with 14 home runs. He stole 15 bags and posted a 131 Sops plus. uh meaning he was 31% better than the average MLB hitter leading off. So this was 126 hits out of the leadoff position. So the Astros had 99 problems, but Jeremy Pena was not one. Um I probably should have done this one earlier, but I didn’t really take the time to put this in order. But the 2025 season is over. The stress of everything is over. Um, all the whining about, well, um, Joe Sp should have done this, blah, blah, blah. Sometimes the biggest blessings is simply the finish line. And especially once you realize, hey, this team is not good enough for the playoffs, it was just kind of like, okay, great, it’s over. So that was number 17. Number 18, the bullpin didn’t give everybody heart attacks this year. just a little bit of mild anxiety. That’s an improvement. They led the league with uh 10.05 strikeouts per nine inning. They’re third with um walks per nine inning with 300 3.20. And they’re third in strikeouts with 647 and eighth with the 3.70 RA. So there’s some uh like Stephen Ourts, Brian King, there are some guys that at times they were pretty dominant. Uh Deos Santos once he came over uh then you had Sosa later in the season. So you had some bright spots kind of come out of nowhere for the Houston Astros that was number 18. The Astros traded for Elfe. That is Carlos Koreah and he got back to being his ways of being the clubhouse leader. Ever so much so that it appears that Joe spot is making him the assistant to the assistant regional manner manager. If you don’t get that reference that’s from the office. Oh yeah. He also batted 290 with a 785 OPS with six homers, almost as much as he had with the Twins and a 117 OPS plus and the 51 games back with Htown. It was good to have um Korea back. I know I kind of talked about this, but I thought this was funny, so I put this in. Number 20. Essies becomes the guy who never strikes out, which is in this lineup is like spotting a unicorn at Bies. Haha, a little bit of dad joke there. Number 21. Farmer Valdez rediscovered his curveball. It’s been missing since 2023, but it finally wandered home like a stray cat. Farmer Valdez, when his curveball was on, that’s when he had some of his best starts. when he didn’t have command of his pitches, that’s when you saw the blowup games. That’s when you saw him kind of lose his composure and whatever happened with Cesar Salazar. But um hopefully whatever happens to Valdez, hopefully he develops into the pitcher that we’ve seen with the Astros at times and maintains that consistency. Mauricio Duban number 22 proved once again how valuable he is with the glove subbing through all the injuries he can he played all the different positions and I know a lot of people since he’s been traded has said well you um he’s just not that good a hitter and yes he has not been the the best hitter throughout this whole time but still if you just look at what he’s done he he can basically play every position except for pitcher and catcher and he was the quoteunquote emergency catcher. So, the Astros have to find somebody that could be that super utility guy like him. So, that was that one. So, uh I think I missed one up there, but I’ll throw it in here. So, I’m a little bit off, but uh number 23. Since Seinfeld was cancelled, Jason Alexander had nothing better to do than save the Astros season by pitching great. I mean, who would have thought that Jason Alexander, who was DFA by the athletics, the A’s, who were one of the worst teams in baseball, I know they kind of came on towards the season, but to not be able to make it on the teams, some of the teams that he was pitching on, and then all a sudden to have all this success, I know that he said that he discovered um some of the the stuff um with the I believe he said with the Red Sox, uh but um he just seemed to just have that knack. And once he figured it out and the Astros gave him the chance to pitch at the big league level, he just was on a whole different level. And if Jason Alexander can pitch like he did last year, the Astros will be okay at with him as the fourth or fifth starter. They just need somebody to emerge as the third starter. Hopefully that’s Christian Javier. Number 24. Dana Brown knew that there’s nothing he could do to resign Kyle Tucker. As we’re seeing a lot of teams, even the Cubs are like, “Uh, yeah, that’s a lot of money you’re asking for.” So, he turned Kyle Tucker into Esacho Parades, Aiden Wisneski, and Cam Smith. So, Cub gave the Cubs gave up 14 potential years of club control for one year in Kyle Tucker and it didn’t really pay off too much. Yes, he was a good player, but it didn’t really get them to where they wanted to be, which was to the World Series. So, was it a wasted trade for the Cubs? No. They were hoping that he would just like restart their offense. And for a while there, he did, but then he had that phantom injury like he always tended to have with the Houston Astros and he just that the Cubs just kind of fell a little bit short. Number 25 or 24, whatever it is, Joe Spatada. Despite all the chaos, all the injuries, losing Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman, everything that’s happened that was the 2025 season, he never lost his cool, never got well that we saw. He never got angry and got the Astros back within one game of making a playoff despite the terrible starts. So, I know people are critical of Joe Bada. I know that Brett and I have been critical of him as well, but what he did that last season was impressive. He should have got some more votes for a manager year. I don’t think he was the best manager in American League, but I think he should have got some more votes than he did considering all the injuries and everything. And the last one, number 25 or number 26, depending on if I missed one, uh, the Astros had a winning record in extra innings. This is something that the Astros have been struggling with for many, many, many years. Uh, but this year they were 8-7 in extra innings. It’s one game over 500, but it’s much better than the 6 and10 record they had in 2024. So, that’s something to be thankful for. So, there are a lot more things that I probably could have been thankful for. There’s a lot more players that we could have added to this list, but this is just something that I thought about as I was coming up uh with the 25 things. There’s probably another five to 10. I know that the Astros missed the playoffs, but they still had a pretty good season. So, from Brett, from myself, guys, have a happy Thanksgiving. Hopefully, you’re able to um have dinner with your family, uh watch some football games, and uh just relax. And that’s the big part of Thanksgiving is just being there with your family. And so, we are thankful for every one of you that have helped us to get where we are. So, thank you every day for making Lockdown Astros podcast what is and go and subscribe to us. Go and make make us your first listen. Apple Odyssey, Spotify, wherever you listen your podcast, go and check us out and we will see you uh I think Brett may be doing a show either tomorrow or Friday. But guys, um as we always say, ghosts and we will see you later.

Houston Astros fans find silver linings after missing the 2025 playoffs—did a year of adversity set the stage for a bigger comeback? From breakout performances by Hunter Brown and Jake Myers to crafty moves like turning Kyle Tucker into new assets, the Astros laid critical groundwork for the future. Players like Jose Altuve, Christian Walker, and Isak Paredes offered resilience and crucial contributions despite injuries, while Jason Alexander’s unlikely rise added a spark to the rotation.

Eric Huysman spotlights 25 reasons for thankfulness, including the Astros’ improved bullpen, strong defensive metrics, and bold leadership from Joe Espada. Key discussions also debate the effectiveness of Dana Brown’s roster tweaks, the next wave of homegrown talent, and what’s needed to reignite Houston’s championship run. Could the Astros reclaim AL West dominance in 2026? Tune in to catch every insight, stat, and offbeat highlight from the 2025 season.

00:00 “Astros’ 2025 Gratitude List”

04:31 “Pitching Consistency Shaped 2025 Outcome”

09:27 Jose Altuve: Stats & Impact

13:28 Isak Paredes’ Resilient Season

16:32 Cam Smith: Defensive Standout Analysis

19:05 Astros Dynasty: Recharging for 2026

23:56 “Valdez’s Curve and Unicorn Bats”

25:50 Jason Alexander’s Astros Pitching Revival

28:23 Astros’ Manager and Extra Innings

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