The Houston Astros are back in the postseason for the ninth time in the last 10 years and are set to take on the Chicago White Sox in the Wild Card round at Daikin Park. As the American League West winners, the Astros are the No. 3 seed.
This is just a three-game series against Chicago, and it begins on Tuesday. It was a short turnaround for the Astros' starting pitching unit, as the team just clinched a playoff spot in Game 162 on Sunday.
Given the fact that Houston was all hands on deck and exhausted all its options on Sunday, there was a big question about who would start Game 1 of the series. The White Sox have a powerful offense, and the Astros will need to be on their game to survive.
Right-hander Cristian Javier suffering an injury last week, ended up being a huge loss to the rotation schedule. Peter Lambert had to come in on two days' rest and pitch two innings as a starter on Sunday. He would've been the starting pitcher on Tuesday. Instead, the Astros will be having a bullpen day, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic.
Here's the starter for Game 1.
Houston Astros pitcher AJ Blubaugh pitches against the Chicago White Sox in the ninth inning at Daikin Park. Mandatory Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Right-hander AJ Blubaugh will be the Astros' Game 1 starter, first reported by Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Astros manager Joe Espada also said, per Rome , that this will be a bullpen game.
Blubaugh is just the opener in this game. It's likely he'll only go two or three innings based on his command and what part of the order he's successful with. This will be Blubaugh's first start in 2026.
He went 5-3 and posted a 3.66 ERA this season in 64 appearances, along with 94 strikeouts and a 1.23 WHIP.
The 26-year-old last pitched on Friday and gave up one earned run in 2/3 of an inning. He threw 15 pitches, with 11 for strikes. Three days of rest for Blubaugh has been rare to see throughout the course of the season given his workload, but that's a big reason why he was deemed a starter for Game 1.
Blubaugh threw a career-high 96 innings in the regular season, which was the most amount of innings pitched by a reliever in baseball this year. He had seven more innings under his belt than the next closest, which was Aaron Ashby of the Milwaukee Brewers .
The former seventh-round pick in 2022 led baseball with 27 outings of at least two innings this season. That was the most by an Astros pitcher since Dave Veres' 27 in 1995. Five of those appearances went more than two innings. The last time that happened was on July 27 at the Los Angeles Angels .
Blubaugh has been used in a variety of situations, such as high-leverage situations lately or middle relief. His versatility has been a big part of the bullpen.
Blubaugh's longest outing this year was 3 2/3 innings against the Boston Red Sox on May 3, where he gave up one earned run on 59 pitches. The Astros would take that to begin the postseason.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/astros/onsi as Who's Pitching for the Astros in Game 1 vs White Sox? .
