Dusty Baker’s Coach K Moment, Jeremy Pena Mania & Verlander 2.0 Show Why Minute Maid Remains One of the Top 5 Ballparks in America

The day after 2,000 wins brings out the Mayor and a Dusty Baker video tribute that includes everyone from Barry Bonds to Mike Krzyzewski singing the Houston Astros manager’s praises on the big centerfield scoreboard. Plus, more Vintage Verlander. Just another day at Minute Maid Park?

That’s the thing about the Astros’ home. Special days just seem to stack up here. Almost one after the other. That is part of why Minute Maid remains one of the Top 5 ballparks in all of baseball. Twenty two years after it first opened, the ballpark on Crawford Street is more relevant and vibrant than ever.

Where else in America would you rather watch a baseball game? Minute Maid cannot compete with the natural splendor settings of PETCO Park in San Diego or the San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park. But it’s much easier to get to than Oracle, which is having some early season attendance issues (at least by its usual standards). Fenway Park is an unassailable treasure and Wrigley Park’s still can be an epic blast. Especially for a day game when the Chicago summer weather is spectacular. Citi Field gives New York one great ballpark (it’s light years ahead of the largely soulless new Yankees Stadium) and the Steve Cohen reborn Mets are providing plenty of incentive to rediscover it.

After that, it’s still hard to find a place better than Minute Maid, almost impossible to find one with a better combination of setting and quality of baseball.

Yes, everyone loves Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, but you’re going there to watch the other team. The Pirates are so consistently wretched that calling this a great place to watch baseball is ignoring what you’re actually watching.

Few places can approach Houston’s Minute Maid Park when it comes to the combined ballpark and baseball quality. Part of this is due to the money Astros owner Jim Crane’s put into Minute Maid Park, consistently adding upgrades year after year. And part of it is the near dynasty the Astros have constructed on the field.

There are few better combinations of ballpark and team in the game today. Even Astros rookie shortstop Jeremy Pena already seems to understand how good of a stage this is. Of course, it seems like Minute Maid Park has already fallen head over heels in love with Pena faster than hookups even bloom in Bridgerton.

“Our fans are great,” Pena says when I ask him about already appearing to be a fan favorite. “Our fans are great. They show up every single home game and support us and now we want to perform for them.

“We have great fans.”

Yes, Jeremy Pena took a question about the quick fan support for him and turned it into something about the overall team rather than about just him. Yes, this 24-year-old already has a little bit of Derek Jeter awareness and grace about him.

And these Astros fans are getting a little spoiled in the best possible way.

Just take what’s happened at Minute Maid over the last three days. On Monday, Pena, the latest Astros’ wonder prospect gone good, hits a dramatic home run above the train tracks and off the orange 2021 American League Championship flag to secure a win. On Tuesday, Astros manager Dusty Baker becomes the 12th skipper in baseball history to win 2,000 games in an emotional scene. Then, on what many would tab for a sleepy Wednesday day game, Justin Verlander — one of best pitchers of his generation — throws six and two third innings of two run baseball. While breaking the 100 pitch barrier in a 7-2 Astros win. Just 19 months removed from Tommy John surgery. While Alex Bregman and Michael Brantley combine for five hits and five RBI to leave the Seattle Mariners reeling. Seemingly as routinely as could be.

In front of a pretty lively crowd of 24,110.

You’re not getting three straight better days of baseball than that anywhere else in America. Besides maybe Los Angeles. And getting in and out of Dodgers Stadium has to be one of the forgotten circles of Hell. There are no such issues with Minute Maid.

And somehow, almost despite the odds and modern ballpark realities, Minute Maid Park seems to be getting better. The Texas Rangers opened and closed Globe Life Park in a span of 25 years. And absolutely no one’s lamenting its passing. Yet Minute Maid seems anything but outdated just three years shy of that mark.

The improvements at Minute Maid make a difference — from the new Amazon Just Walk Out stores to El Tiempo taking over the former Torchy’s Taco spot to new mural walls — and mean something. But the talent on the field means even more.

Where else can Yordan Alvarez, one of the best younger hitters in baseball, swat two home runs in two days and go virtually unnoticed? Alvarez does not do a single interview with the excitement over Jeremy Pena and Dusty’s 2,000 wins capturing everyone’s attention.

Minute Maid Park is a place where moments happen. A ballpark where stars just seem to continue to emerge.

Jeremy Pena, Minute Maid Favorite

Jeremy Pena grabbed two more big moments in front of the Minute Maid Park crowd that already adores him in the first three days of this week. Only 25 games into the Houston Astros’ season, 25 games into his Major League Baseball career, Pena continues to stack up signature moments at a rate that seems to defy baseball logic.

It turns out there may be no rules for The Man Who Would Replace Carlos Correa. No stop signs that he can see. Jeremy Pena carries himself like a young Tom Cruise. He’s just confident enough without ever veering into outright annoying cockiness.

“He’s just growing as a Big Leaguer. And that’s what’s going to make him a Big Leaguer for a very long time. It’s a big credit to him. He’s got big shoes to fill coming in after Carlos, but he’s done it the right way.” — Astros pitcher Jake Odorizzi on rookie shortstop Jeremy Pena.

Pena’s already become a fan favorite in Houston’s version of baseball paradise. Even if he’s hesitant to express that. This isn’t about disrespecting Carlos Correa, whose loss is still felt by those Minute Maid Park devotees. It is about how Pena has done everything right. And leading rookies in home runs may be the least important part of what he’s done.

“He came into his role his way,” Astros starter Jake Odorizzi says when I ask what’s stood out to him about Pena. “He didn’t try to be somebody that he wasn’t. How phenomenal he was with the glove. Obviously he’s got tremendous power.

“But he’s really starting to learn how to work at-bats, make adjustments to pitches. He’s just growing as a Big Leaguer. And that’s what’s going to make him a Big Leaguer for a very long time. It’s a big credit to him. He’s got big shoes to fill coming in after Carlos, but he’s done it the right way.

“He doesn’t try to do stuff he’s not capable of doing. And he plays his game very well.”

Pena is doing it in one of the best ballparks in baseball, as the Astros continue to prove that scenery isn’t close to everything when it comes to the best places in America to watch a ballgame.