When word came from MLB that they were going home after the series finale on Aug. 31 — a 1:10 p.m. ET first pitch— the change in the clubhouse mood was immediate.

The Astros wanted to go home. They hated the helplessness. They hated not being in Houston with their families, while the people they loved dealt with the hurricane on their own. They understood, as baseball players, why they couldn’t play that series against the Rangers in Houston. But they knew, as people, that more than anything they wanted to be in Houston.

Hurricane Harvey had just barely stopped its onslaught by the 29th, so the Astros played three games against the Rangers on the other side of the Gulf of Mexico, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. Baseball made the best of a bad situation — all tickets were $10, fans could sit as close to the field as they wanted and all proceeds were donated to hurricane relief — but the whole experience was unsettling.

The Verlander negotiations went all the way down to the final moments.

The Astros hadn’t won more than two games in a row since the All-Star break, and they were just 11-17 in August. From strictly a baseball perspective, the team needed a serious shot in the arm, and that shot in the arm needed to happen before midnight on Aug. 31 for the new player to be playoff-eligible.

That inactivity didn’t sit well with Astros players. Dallas Keuchel didn’t hide his disappointment, and a couple of days later, Josh Reddick echoed Keuchel’s sentiments. August had been a frustrating stretch for the club; after cruising through the early months of the season with baseball’s best record, Houston was sputtering.

While the players and coaches were on the plane back to Houston, Luhnow was negotiating with Detroit general manager Al Avila, trying to hammer out a deal for Verlander. The pressure to make something happen was intense. Remember, the Astros didn’t make any impact moves at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, even though they were rumored to be in the mix for several big names.

“Nothing forces a deal like a deadline,” Luhnow said with a laugh on a conference call the next day.

Word spread quickly. Players texted and called Hinch, hoping for confirmation, or refreshed Twitter looking for good news. Carlos Correa, who was on a rehab assignment, was so happy when he heard about the trade that he threw his PS4 controller into the air, and it broke.

Verlander wasn’t the only addition. Cameron Maybin had been a starting outfielder for the Angels, Houston’s AL West rival. Considering the Angels were only a game out of the second wild-card spot at the time, Luhnow’s trade for Maybin caught lots of people off guard.

Including Maybin.

“Pretty surprised, actually,” Maybin told SN, about a half-hour after he stepped foot in his new clubhouse for the first time on Sept. 2. “I felt like I was a big part of helping the Angels get to where they were, you know? So it was a surprise. But it was an exciting surprise, going to a team that’s been one of the best teams in baseball this year.”

When the Astros woke up the morning after the deadline, though, they were quickly transported back to the truth of what had happened in Houston. Instead of playing the Mets on Sept. 1, MLB had adjusted the schedule so the teams would play a double-header the next day, and gave the Astros a day to deal with non-baseball realities on the 1st.

“It’s good to interact with our families, with our friends, with our fans, and start the rebuild process,” Hinch said. “Our last week has been chaotic, but nothing compared to what the city of Houston and the surrounding areas have gone through. So for us to be able to get home, get settled and do a little bit of reconnection yesterday was much-needed.”

A large group of players and coaches went to the hurricane shelter at the GRB Center, just down the street from Minute Maid Park. What they saw was unforgettable.

“It was just a massive state of devastation, and you realized how many people really did lose everything,” Reddick said. “They’re just in there with a few bags, what they can fit in their little area. It really was upsetting.”

The experience wasn’t dismissed by the time the double-header started the next day. Hinch was asked whether he thought his players could put what had happened out of their minds during the game, and his response proved the Astros had the proper perspective on the situation.

“You know what? I don’t want it out of their minds,” he said. “I want them to think about it for this week, I want them to think about it next week, I want them to think about it next month, and in six months and whenever people need something and we have time and energy and money and whatever we can do to help, I want them to think about it.”

The manager and his players were on the same page.

“These next few weeks, games, days, whatever, I know that this team is going to play with a lot of emotion,” Springer said. “We’re going to play with a lot of heart. The city’s been through a lot over the last few days, and this game is part of the city.”