Team Weather Playbook

Houston Astros Weather Playbook: Retractable Roof, Texas Heat

By Kevin Roth, sports meteorologist. How weather affects the Houston Astros at home and on the road.

Home advantage

Minute Maid closes the roof for the majority of home games from mid-May through September because of Houston heat. Closed conditions produce 72-degree indoor baseball with no wind. Open roof on cooler April, October, and early May evenings can produce strong carry from warm humid air.

Division road environments

AL West road trips span the Angel Stadium marine influence, the Oakland Coliseum cold-wind bay setup, T-Mobile Park cool-marine, Globe Life Field Texas heat with retractable roof, and Sutter Health Park Sacramento heat. The variance in air density across those parks is significant.

For DFS and bettors

Roof status is the day-of-game leverage at Minute Maid. Closed roof is neutral and stagnant; open roof on a warm humid night is a live-hitting environment. Assume closed on any day the Houston high is above 90.