Opening day for the Houston Astros happens this afternoon, at the newly named Daikin Park, in front of a sold out crowd, against the New York Mets. The Astros embark on the season attempting to win there eighth straight division title (in a non COVD year), and are looking to get back to at least the ALCS, after seeing their seven year streak of making it that faro in the postseason snapped last year.
In short, this is a fun season in which to be highly invested in the Astros, as a team. Jose Altuve is moving to left field, Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker are your new corner infielders, and Cam Smith is HAPPENING! The crown jewel from the Kyle Tucker trade, against all odds, made the big league ball club out of spring training. Let’s go!
Now, all of that said, if you’re looking for a way to be invested in every game this season without living or dying by the final score, then player futures bets are the way to go! Just pick over or under on season long stats for a few guys, and the fun never stops. Here are four Astros players futures bets that I LOVE going into the 2025 season:
Jeremy Pena – OVER 14.5 Home Runs
I present my rationale for this wager by merely posting the picture from the tweet below:
Those look like biceps that SCREAM “OVER 14.5 home runs!”
Isaac Paredes – OVER 25.5 Home Runs
The Astros picked up Paredes in the trade for Kyle Tucker for three reasons. First, he is under team control contractually for three more seasons. That’s big. Second, he has a very discerning eye at the plate. In other words, he walks a lot and makes pitchers work. Finally, he has some serious “pull” tendencies to his swing, which means short line drives like this one become home runs:
Give me OVER 25.5 of those bay boys!
Hunter Brown – OVER 11 Wins
Brown has won exactly 11 games in each of the last two seasons, so with that as a preface, this number may make sense. However, it ignores the hughe leap Brown made after June 5 last season, when he went 10-4 with a 2.20 ERA in 19 starts. Brown should be viewed as a budding ace, and if he stays healthy, he should eclipse 11 wins somewhat comfortably.
Josh Hader – OVER 33.5 Saves
The Astros season win total with the various sports books is hovering around 86 wins. I think the Astros will exceed that total, and they’ll be closer to 90 wins. That’s an educated guess. What I KNOW is that Josh Hader will get every save opportunity this season, barring injury. Hader is a workhorse as a closer, so I’m comfortable he will have the most important components to an OVER wager on saves — health and opportunity (for a good team). So let’s go!
Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/SeanTPendergast, on Instagram at instagram.com/sean.pendergast, and like him on Facebook at facebook.com/SeanTPendergast.
