Cristian Javier is the Astros’ Game 3 starting pitcher and their season may ride with how he pitches Tuesday. Well, not entirely as Game 4 is guaranteed to occur, regardless of the result of Game 3. But the complexion of this series varies greatly on what exactly transpires on Tuesday. For Houston, it hinges on which version of Javier shows up at Target Field.
The most prominent issue for the Astros this season was due to how much this pitching staff has regressed compared to 2022. Some of that regression was expected as last season’s staff was arguably the best in baseball, or at least second best, depending on your metric of choice.