HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Astros’ home will get a new name on Jan. 1, becoming Daikin Park under an agreement through the 2039 season the team announced Monday.

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The stadium opened as Enron Field in 2000 as part of a 30-year, $100 million agreement but the name was removed in March 2002 following Enron Corp.’s bankruptcy filing and the ballpark briefly became Astros Field.

It was renamed Minute Maid Park in June 2002 as part of a deal with The Minute Maid Co., a Houston-based subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Co. Then-Astros owner Drayton McLane said at the time the agreement was for 28 years and for more than $100 million.

The new deal is with Daikin Comfort Technologies North America Inc., a subsidiary of Daikin Industries Ltd., which is based in Japan and is a leading air conditioning company.

Minute Maid will remain an Astros partner through 2029, the team said.

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Well this was a weird week for the Seattle Seahawks. The leading tackler was waived and the starting center retired. Just like they planned it as Mike Macdonald quipped.

The NFL stops for no one, so the Seahawks still had to play a game this week, finishing off the season series with the San Francisco 49ers.

And guess what?

They freakin’ won!

For the first time in three years, the Seahawks beat the 49ers with a thrilling 20-17 comeback victory iced by a Geno Smith rushing TD with a very apropos 12 seconds remaining. I don’t care if it came with both Nick Bosa and George Kittle on the sidelines. Beggars can’t be choosers.

Prior to the game, the likelihood for the Seahawks to even make the playoffs was getting pretty low as Seattle had (+540) odds just to make the playoffs according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

Those should rise a bit with the win against San Francisco, but the cards are still stacked against Seattle. Right now, the Seahawks playoff chances aren’t totally dead…it’s probably more accurate to call them “mostly dead” unless they can win the NFC West which FanDuel had at (+1200) odds before kickoff by the way.

However, Seattle can still make a run at this thing. As if this week wasn’t important enough, the Seahawks face their rival and NFC West division leading Arizona Cardinals two out of the next three weeks. I don’t think I need to tell you that they have to win both of them, but they have to win both of them.

For now, let’s enjoy that sweet, sweet victory against the 49ers and hope this is a springboard to a torrid finish to the season.

NFC standings during Week 11

Division Leaders

1. Detroit Lions (9-1)

2. Philadelphia Eagles (8-2)

3. Arizona Cardinals (6-4)

4. Atlanta Falcons (6-5)

Wild Card Teams

5. Minnesota Vikings (8-2)

6. Green Bay Packers (7-3)

7. Washington Commanders (7-4)

Outside Looking In

8. Los Angeles Rams (5-5, 2-1 NFCW)

9. Seattle Seahawks (5-5, 1-2 NFCW, win over SF)

10. San Francisco 49ers (5-5, 1-3 NFCW, loss to SEA)

11. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-6, 4-3 NFC)

12. Chicago Bears (4-6, 2-3 NFC)

13. New Orleans Saints (4-7)

14. Dallas Cowboys (3-6)

15. Carolina Panthers (3-7)

16. New York Giants (2-8)

The Seattle Mariners offense was the main reason the franchise missed out on the playoffs for the 22nd time in 23 years in 2024.

The offense, at one point, was on pace to make the wrong kind of MLB history for the most strikeouts by a single team in a season. They ended up avoiding setting a new all-time mark in that category, but still finished dead last in the league in that statistic with 1,625.

Coinciding with the offense’s struggles, Seattle’s face of the franchise, Julio Rodriguez, had the worst season of his three-year career. He batted .273 with 20 homers and 68 RBIs. He also missed three weeks with an ankle sprain and was out of the outfield for over a month due to the same injury.

Rodriguez finished the year strong and hit .328 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs in September. But it was another season marked by a slow start. He hit .267 in April, .274 in May and .206 in June.

Mariners President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto went on the ESPN Baseball Tonight podcast hosted by insider Buster Olney on Saturday to talk about Rodriguez’s slow starts, and offered a possible solution the team and the two-time All-Star might explore.

“It’s not due to a lack of preparation. Nobody works harder than Julio. I visited with him just early last month shortly after the season was over. He has a very structured and disciplined plan for how he approaches his offseason. He has, over the course his major league career, been more likely to start slow and finish fast. And our goal is to find a way to extend that over a seven-month period. And he’s proven to be one of the most talented and productive players in the game. We would love to see that start a little more in April or May and not wait until the weather warms so much and I know that’s a focus for him. … It’s not his training programs, it’s not a willingness to work and, frankly, it’s not a desire issue. He gets out there and wants to get after it. … We’ve already talked about getting more reps in Spring Training and maybe dial it back to the way it was in the (1990s) when the rest of us played. Instead of getting the 40 or 50 plate appearances in prep for the season, looking at something more like 70 or 90.”

Even though the offense’s struggles last year extended way beyond Rodriguez, it’s been said by several media personalities and analysts that Seattle goes as far as he goes.

The organization would likely to mitigate the risk of injury to their franchise centerpiece. But they also want to avoid another slow start. More at-bats in spring training could be the solution.

ARTICLE NAMES FORMER GOLD GLOVER AS SECOND BASE FIT FOR MARINERS: A Seattle Mariners reporter had St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan as a possible solution to the former’s second base issues in a recent article. CLICK HERE

DIPOTO CLARIFIED RALEY’S ROLE ON THE MARINERS FOR 2025: The Seattle Mariners President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto shared some insight on how the team will be constructed in 2025; Including the role of utility player Luke Raley. CLICK HERE

MARINERS REPORTEDLY PREPARING A PITCH FOR SASAKI: The Seattle Mariners will make an attempt to sign Chiba Lotte Marines pitcher Roki Sasaki when he is posted for free agency. CLICK HERE

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