MINNEAPOLIS -- José Abreu had a rather inauspicious beginning to his Astros tenure, recording his worst season at the plate in a decade in the big leagues. But it's not over yet.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Four years ago, Dusty Baker was watching his former team, the Nationals, face off against the team he would go on to manage to a World Series title, the Astros, in the 2019 Fall Classic. That's when Baker first saw José Urquidy on the mound -- tossing five

MINNEAPOLIS -- At 26 years old, Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña has already earned a reputation as a clutch playoff performer. Peña, taking over at shortstop last year for franchise icon Carlos Correa, earned that notoriety last fall when he won the Most Valuable Player of the American League Championship Series

MINNEAPOLIS -- They say everything is bigger in Texas, and an American League Championship Series showdown between the Astros and the Rangers may be enough to send the Lone Star State into a baseball-fueled frenzy. Astros vs. Rangers. Dusty Baker vs. Bruce Bochy. Space City vs. the Metroplex -- with

MINNEAPOLIS -- It was clear that Byron Buxton was still limited in what he could do for Minnesota, but with the Twins’ backs against the wall, they hoped for a Kirk Gibson moment from their ailing star on Wednesday night. Buxton willed his body back for one final plate appearance

MINNEAPOLIS -- Target Field had never seen an October like this one, and the walls of Minnesota limestone strained as a once-tortured fanbase poured into the building and rose as one, working to will this magical month to last just another day -- or even an hour, or even a

MINNEAPOLIS -- It’s Royce and Kirby, then everyone else. Royce Lewis clearly wasn’t ready to go home -- and how could he ever have wanted a postseason like this to end? In the rookie sensation’s first taste of October, Lewis had already stamped his name in the Twins’ record books.

MINNEAPOLIS -- The term “mixed emotions” has become so cliché in sports. It’s moments like the Twins experienced on Wednesday night, being eliminated from the postseason with a 3-2 loss to the Astros is Game 4 of the American League Division Series at Target Field, that prompt a slew of

MINNEAPOLIS -- When Cristian Javier takes the mound in the postseason, there's seemingly no throwing him off his game. Even when the Target Field crowd packed with 41,017 strong came together in an effort to fluster him, counting down with the pitch timer to add a layer of urgency as

MINNEAPOLIS -- The best move for opposing managers at this point may be to hold up four fingers and point toward first base when Yordan Alvarez comes to the plate in a big spot. Challenging the Astros' slugger with pitches in the strike zone is proving to be a foolhardy

For once, the Astros had been in unfamiliar territory, with home-field advantage flipped in the AL Division Series as they faced the prospect of a motivated and hungry Target Field crowd. They’re in a much more familiar situation now, having emphatically neutralized that crowd with their blowout, 9-1 Game 3

As a result of the Rangers finishing off the Orioles in a three-game sweep in their ALDS -- here is your reminder the Rangers have yet to lose a postseason game this year -- we have three games on Wednesday, rather than four. And what a slate of games it

MINNEAPOLIS -- The day was July 14, 2022. It was a run-of-the-mill matchup between the Twins and White Sox. Minnesota starter Sonny Gray yielded a home run to Luis Robert Jr. on a sweeper in the fourth inning, as his team fell into a hole it couldn’t climb out of.

MINNEAPOLIS -- All afternoon, a sold-out Target Field crowd packed to the gills longed for its chance to erupt in ways hitherto unseen around these parts this deep into October. They never got that opportunity. And now that the Twins’ backs are against the wall, they might only get one

MINNEAPOLIS – If any team knows anything about pulling out big wins on the road in October, it’s the Astros, whose path to four American League pennants in the previous six seasons is filled with clutch road victories. They added another one to the list Tuesday afternoon at Target Field

MINNEAPOLIS -- Target Field was abuzz from the moment the gates opened on Tuesday afternoon, and the excitement built and built as first pitch neared. The home crowd had a seemingly endless supply of energy, going wild when franchise icon Johan Santana threw out the first pitch -- with an

MINNEAPOLIS – When the Astros roared through the postseason last year, going 11-2 en route to their second World Series title in six seasons, they did it on the strength of their pitching staff, with some big-time clutch hits along the way from Yordan Alvarez, Jeremy Peña and others. Astros

MINNEAPOLIS -- Sometimes a player's best qualities aren't all that easy to quantify. In that sense, Astros catcher Martín Maldonado serves as a reminder that being a productive Major League player is not all about the statistics. That may sound counterintuitive, particularly as Houston finds itself in unfamiliar territory --

The Twins have a chance to clinch the American League Division Series on their home turf if they beat the reigning World Series champion Astros in Games 3 and 4 at Target Field. The ALDS has become a dogfight after Minnesota smacked Houston, 6-2, in Game 2 on Sunday night

MINNEAPOLIS -- Royce Lewis is back at the hot corner. After the Twins had to hold their rookie sensation to DH-only duties for the AL Wild Card Series against the Blue Jays and the first two games of the AL Division Series against the Astros, Lewis was slotted in at

The last time the new Globe Life Field in Arlington hosted a postseason game, it was 2020, there were barely any fans in the stands, and the Rangers weren’t even playing. (At least Corey Seager was on the field.) The Rangers finally get to christen their home stadium themselves in

This story was excerpted from Do-Hyoung Park’s Twins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

This story was excerpted from Brian McTaggart’s Astros Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

HOUSTON -- The one-two punch of Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez makes for a daunting top of the rotation, though it has yielded mixed results for the Astros so far in the 2023 American League Division Series. While Verlander was able to navigate around some early traffic in Houston's Game

HOUSTON -- Not much came easy for the Astros on their way to winning the American League West, a division they clinched on the final day of the season with a little help from the Mariners. So it shouldn’t be surprising that the defending champions have found themselves in a