FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The camps have opened. Left-handers and right-handers are building their pitch counts. New gloves are being oiled, bent and broken in. Some players are learning new positions. Hitters have worked offseason swing changes into their first rounds of spring batting practice. Opening Day is 39 days away, meaning little more than a month for final adjustments.
But there is really no way for the Houston Astros to prepare for what looms this year when they leave their Minute Maid Park cocoon, and perhaps even in moments when they are in that safe zone of home.