13 Walk-off victories. 41 home wins. And... six double plays in a game?!!?
The 2026 Sugar Land Space Cowboys season once again featured milestones, record-breaking feats and remarkable individual achievements as Sugar Land completed their sixth season as the Triple A affiliate of the Houston Astros. Below are some of the highlights of the season in review, but the entire 64 pages that encapsulate the 2026 campaign can be found by clicking here.
It includes information on every player that saw game action for the Space Cowboys in 2026, along with season highs and lows, notable achievements and so much more.
ABOUT THE 2026 SEASON: The Space Cowboys finished the 2026 season 74-75 overall, going 32-42 in the first half and 42-33 in the second half... Sugar Land went 41-33 at home, recording the third-most home wins in the PCL and posted a 33-42 record on the road... The Space Cowboys went 28-14 at home in the second half, the most home wins in a half since the PCL went to a first half /second half split in 2023... Sugar Land’s longest winning streak of the season was seven games from July 28 - August 4 while its longest losing streak was six games from August 22 - 28.
SUGAR LAND TO THE SHOW: Sugar Land had six members of the 2026 Space Cowboys make their Major League debut with the Astros in 2026, including RHP Alimber Santa on May 25 @ TEX, C Collin Price on June 4 vs. PIT, RHP Miguel Ullola on June 29 vs. MIN, OF Lucas Spence on July 17 vs. BAL, RHP Ethan Pecko on August 19 vs. LAA and LHP Josh Hendrickson on September 23 @ SEA... Additionally, former Space Cowboy LHP Blake Weiman made his Major League debut with the Los Angeles Angels on August 7 @ MIA... All told, Sugar Land has now had 53 former players make their Major League debut in the first six seasons in affiliated baseball.
HOME SWEET HOME: The Space Cowboys posted a 28-14 home record in the second half of the season, marking their best home half record since the PCL moved to a first half / second half format in 2023, surpassing their previous best of 26-18, set in second half in 2024... Sugar Land also tied the Hickory Crawdads for the most home wins in the Minor Leagues during the second half, but had the most home wins in Minor League Baseball from June 23 (the start of the Triple-A second half) to the end of the season.
The Space Cowboys remarkable second-half home winning percentage was spearheaded by a 10-2 homestand from July 21 to August 2, giving the Space Cowboys a 20-4 record at Constellation Field through their first 24 home games in the second half.
Overall, Sugar Land went 41-33 at home in 2026, the third consecutive season the Space Cowboys have surpassed 40 victories at their home ballpark... Space Cowboys pitchers stifled opposing batters, registering a 3.61 ERA at Constellation Field, the lowest home ERA in Triple A and the third lowest home ERA in full season Minor League Baseball, trailing only Hickory (3.34) and Kannapolis (3.55).
BEYOND NINE : The Sugar Land Space Cowboys played 19 extra-inning games in 2026, the most in the Pacific Coast League (next - El Paso and Salt Lake, 15)... Their 19 extra-inning games ranked fourth in the minor leagues, trailing only the Memphis Redbirds (25), Norfolk Tides (21) and Amarillo Sod Poodles (20)... It marked the most extra-inning games Sugar Land played in a season since 2022, when the club played 20.
BULLPEN DOMINANCE: The Sugar Land bullpen was dominant throughout the season, posting a 4.09 ERA, the lowest mark in the Pacific Coast League and tied for the second lowest bullpen ERA in Triple A in 2026 (1st - Nashville, 3.89)... The Space Cowboys were one of just two PCL teams, along with Tacoma (584), to allow fewer than 600 hits, and Sugar Land was the only team to surrender fewer than 550, allowing a PCL-low 528 hits... The bullpen also posted a 2.01 strikeout-to-walk ratio, trailing only Tacoma in the PCL.
Sugar Land's bullpen found another gear in the second half of the season, registering a 3.05 ERA, the lowest in all of Minor League Baseball from June 23 through the end of the season (next - Kanapolis, 3.35) while also recording a MiLB low 1.18 WHIP.
HOW THE STAFF STACKED UP: Sugar Land once again had one of the best pitching staff's in the Pacific Coast League in 2026, surrendering the fewest hits (1,192) in the PCL while recording the lowest WHIP (1.40) and batting average against (.243)... Overall they were second in ERA (4.51), allowing the second fewest runs (723), earned runs (654) and walks (629) while recording the second most strikeouts (1,346) in the PCL and allowing the third fewest home runs (150).
The Space Cowboys also allowed the fewest inherited runners to score in 2026, seeing just 54 of 212 inherited runners score (next - Round Rock, 67 of 200)... They were the only team in the PCL to allow less that 31% of their inherited runners to score (25.4%) with the next closest team registering a 31.4% rate of inherited runners scoring (OKC).
Sugar Land got 652.1 innings from their starters in 2026, the second-most inning pitched for any starting staff in the league (1st - Tacoma, 712.2; 3rd - OKC, 616.1) while leading the league in punch outs from their starters with 637 (next, OKC - 550) and registering the third-lowest starter ERA (4.94, 1st - OKC, 4.25).
WHY NOT A WALK OFF?: The Space Cowboys recorded 13 walk offs during the 2026 season, tied with Wilmington for the second most walk offs in Minor League Baseball (1st - Charleston - 14) and the most in a single season in Space Cowboys history, surpassing the 10 Sugar Land collected in 2024.
On April 12, Sugar Land got a walk-off sacrifice fly from Cavan Biggio in their series finale against Tacoma, their second-straight game with a walk off and third walk-off win in four games... It was the first time in Space Cowboys' history that Sugar Land has collected three walk offs in a single series.
The Space Cowboys would then go on to record a walk-off victory in three-consecutive home games on two different occasions, first from July 12 - 22 and then from July 31 - August 2.
BLANK SLATE: On September 19 against Las Vegas, Sugar Land registered a 7-0 shutout victory... Paired with their 4-0 shutout win on September 18, it marked the first time since May 29 - 30, 2021 against Albuquerque that the Space Cowboys’ pitching staff recorded back-to-back shutouts...Overall, the Space Cowboys recorded nine shutouts in 2026, tying their single-season franchise record, set in 2025 when they spun nine shutouts... Their nine shutouts were the second most in the Pacific Coast League in 2026 (OKC - 13).
TRANSACTION TRACKER: In total, Sugar Land made 284 transactions in their regular season... The Space Cowboys had 70 non-rehab players suit up for them in 2026, including 34 position players and 36 pitchers, and had 28 total players either recalled or have their contract selected and play for Houston in 2026.
REHAB REPORT: Overall, Sugar Land had 20 members of the Houston Astros appear on Major League rehab in 2026, including eight position players; Nick Allen, Zach Dezenzo, Yainer Diaz, Joey Loperfido, Brice Matthews, Jeremy Peña, Braden Shewmake and LaMonte Wade Jr. and 12 pitchers; Ronel Blanco, Cody Bolton, Hunter Brown, Mike Burrows, Enyel De Los Santos, Josh Hader, Tatsuya Imai, Cristian Javier, Lance McCullers Jr., Nate Pearson, Bennett Sousa and Hayden Wesneski.