Home blues: Can Astros turn things around at Minute Maid Park?

HOUSTON -- Perhaps the Astros should spend a few nights in a local hotel prior to home playoff games at Minute Maid Park? Or maybe they could petition Major League Baseball to allow them to bat first when they’re at home. Whatever the case, the Astros’ home-field advantage wasn’t much of one during the regular season this year.

The Astros will need to find a way to buck that trend in the American League Division Series, considering they will have home-field advantage in the best-of-five series. The defending World Series champions are awaiting the winner of the best-of-three playoff series between the Twins and Blue Jays, with the winner coming to Minute Maid Park for Game 1 on Saturday. Minnesota jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a 3-1 win on Tuesday.

The Astros went 39-42 at home this season -- despite drawing 3 million fans -- and still managed to win the AL West title (they went 51-30 on the road). How unpredictable have the Astros been? Houston swept the Braves on the road and was swept at home by the Royals.

Thus, the Astros were the first team to have a losing record at home and win their division since the 2001 Braves, who went 40-41 at Turner Field and captured the NL East. No team which had a losing record at home has ever won a pennant. The worst home regular-season record for a team to win a pennant was the 2014 Royals, who went 42-39 at home. The worst home record for a World Series champ was 42-38 by the 2021 Braves.

So why isn’t Minute Maid Park home sweet home?

A common complaint this year was the batter’s eye, the area directly behind the center-field wall that serves as a visual backdrop for hitters. Astros players have complained they haven’t been able to pick up the ball very well against left-handed pitchers, and those concerns were magnified when Padres lefty Blake Snell (the NL Cy Young favorite) allowed two runs in six innings on Sept. 8. And A’s southpaw relievers Ken Waldichuck and JP Sears threw 12 innings and allowed two runs in two victories by Oakland in Houston a few days later.

“Guys have talked to us about the batter’s eye but, at the end of the day, this team has been good with the same batter’s eye last year and the year before,” general manager Dana Brown said on his weekly radio appearance on KBME (790 AM) in Houston two weeks ago.

Still, prior to their last homestand, the Astros extended the batter’s eye in center field a few feet towards right field. They added a swath of green paint onto a red party deck, but it didn’t appear to have an immediate impact. Houston went 1-5 in its final six home games, averaging 4.3 runs per game.

At home this year, the Astros slashed .249/.324/.411 and averaged 4.5 runs per game with 92 home runs. On the road, they slashed .268/.337/.469 and averaged 5.7 runs with 130 home runs. Each of their top four hitters -- Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez -- posted substantially better numbers on the road than at home.

Take a look at the home-road splits:

Bregman
Home: .250/.355/.405, 11 homers, 42 RBIs
Road: .273/.368/.472, 15 homers, 56 RBIs

Tucker
Home: .251/.330/.455, 10 homers, 48 RBIs
Road: .315/.404/.576, 19 homers, 64 RBIs

Alvarez
Home .278/.390/.488, 10 homers, 41 RBIs
Road: .307/.425/.678, 21 homers, 56 RBIs

Altuve
Home: .268/.380/.399, four homers, 19 RBIs
Road: .349/.405/.630, 13 homers, 32 RBIs

While the Astros are cheered at home, they’re vilified on the road, especially Altuve and Bregman -- the two key holdovers from the 2017 championship team that was investigated for stealing signs at home to assist the hitters. The players won’t say it out loud, but they appear to thrive while playing in such hostile environments.

There’s even some belief the Astros’ schedule is more conducive to rest on the road, considering the demands many players have with young kids at home. Many players rise early in the morning to take their children to school and come back and try to catch a nap before heading to the park. It’s rare for players’ families to travel on the road.

Of course, last year’s team was made up of largely the same roster, so that’s not an argument that carries much water. When it matters, the Astros have played well in Houston, going 11-4 at home in the past three postseasons, including 6-1 last year on their way to the World Series title. And, yes, the Astros famously lost all four games at Minute Maid Park in the 2019 World Series, so it hasn’t been an airtight home advantage -- even in October.

“There’s been mention of [the batter’s eye] in the past, but I don’t think it’s the reason why our home record hasn’t been as good as our road record,” bench coach Joe Espada said on KBME last month. “We just need to continue to push forward.”