HOUSTON — Before witnessing his team’s biggest statement, Houston Astros general manager Dana Brown logged onto a Zoom call. Thirty hours remained before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET trade deadline, but Brown’s contract mandates that he sit for an interview on the Astros’ pregame radio show every Sunday. Whenever possible, Brown appears in person.This Sunday, however, Brown joined by video call from the team’s war room. Surrounding Brown, he said, were his assistant general managers, some folks with director in their titles and “of course we have (Jeff) Bagwell,” the Hall of Fame first baseman who has been a baseball operations sounding board for owner Jim Crane.Brown took a break between front-office meetings, stared into a laptop and responded to questions. His club’s ascension from average to American League contender has been a work in progress for more than two months, but it crystallized over the last 12 games. Winning 11 of them has increased Houston’s chances of making the playoffs by 35.8 percent, according to FanGraphs.It is the sort of run that squashes any scenario of standing pat or selling assets at the deadline, while prompting questions about a potential splurge. Crane is prone to producing them. He pops in and out of Houston’s war room “every now and then,” Brown said Sunday.Should we crown the Dodgers following the Skubal trade?Derek VanRiper and Eno SarrisCrane will influence how the Astros proceed. According to one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations, Crane has instructed Houston’s front office not to trade from its major-league roster. For an owner who has long prioritized pennants over prospects, this should be little surprise.Both Brown and Crane spent Sunday afternoon in their respective Daikin Park suites watching a sweep-securing Astros win that will only increase attention around their actions before the deadline.“We believe that we are the best team in the West and that we are one of the best teams in the American League,” manager Joe Espada said after the 7-3 victory over the Texas Rangers. “That’s all that matters to me and to our club. Let’s go out and take care of business.”Houston never trailed in 27 innings against their in-state division rivals. Yordan Alvarez reached base in 11 of his 15 plate appearances. Jeremy Peña finished 7-for-15. The Astros’ bullpen threw 13 innings of one-run ball to extend a prolific stretch that has helped stabilize the club’s pitching staff.Contributions from other players, be it Taylor Trammell’s shift-beating, two-run single on Saturday, LaMonte Wade Jr.’s seeing-eye single that chased home another run on Sunday, or Yainer Diaz’s four-hit game on Friday, made a statement in the weekend’s sweep of the Rangers.“We knew we had to put a little intensity behind it,” Alvarez said through an interpreter. “I think that’s what we saw out there: We put a little more intensity into the game, and we treated it like it was a playoff game for us.”Alvarez continued his absurd season Sunday with four more hits. The final one snuck down the right-field foul line and chased home two crucial insurance runs. A crowd of 33,955 responded with “M-V-P” chants that should grow more prominent over the Astros’ 24 remaining regular-season home games.Since May 22, Houston is 38-24. No American League team entered Sunday with a better winning percentage in that timeframe. This weekend’s sweep gave the Astros a 2 1/2-game lead over the Rangers in an American League West division that appears more winnable than ever.The Astros’ two chief competitors are either contemplating selling before the deadline or, in the Seattle Mariners’ case, have started to do so.Seattle traded starter Luis Castillo to the Chicago White Sox on Saturday and, according to multiple reports, the Mariners remain open to offers on pitchers George Kirby and Emerson Hancock. Outfielder Randy Arozarena is also being dangled in some discussions.Before Sunday’s game, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported that the Rangers’ deadline pursuits might hinge on the contest’s outcome. Their eventual loss could prompt them to “sell, perhaps even in a big way,” Rosenthal wrote.Seattle’s chances of making the playoffs are still 51.3 percent, and the Rangers have 37.3 percent odds of reaching the postseason, according to FanGraphs, but neither club has an owner as opportunistic as Crane.The Astros are by no means a juggernaut. They still possess a minus-27 run differential and the highest rotation ERA of any American League team. Upgrading the rotation and the outfield remains the club’s deadline focus. Bear in mind that last season, the Astros sat atop the American League West as late as Sept. 10, and they still missed the postseason for the first time in eight years.This year’s roster needs some upgrades, and Crane has long distinguished himself as one of the most aggressive trade-deadline operators in baseball. He has twice authorized acquisitions of Justin Verlander; he agreed to add Zack Greinke in 2019; and last season, he signed off on absorbing a portion of Carlos Correa’s massive contract to re-acquire the infielder from the Minnesota Twins.To get both Greinke and Verlander, Houston parted with a plethora of prospects. The team could follow a similar formula at this deadline, although the return might include less-decorated names than in previous seasons. Aside from Tarik Skubal, there are no known, available players who match the star power of Correa, Greinke or Verlander.Sources familiar with the Astros’ thinking, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren’t permitted to comment on ongoing negotiations, said that both of the organization’s Top-100 prospects — Xavier Neyens and Kevin Alvarez — are long shots to be traded. Ditto for pitching prospect Ethan Pecko, who made his scheduled start Sunday for Triple-A Sugar Land.Brown said Sunday that “someone on your 40-man that’s not in the major leagues (could be) going out the door,” meaning that players such as Miguel Ullola, Alimber Santa, Jake Meyers, Joey Loperfido or Zach Cole could be included in deals.Whether that would be enough to create a compelling package in a sellers’ market is a fascinating question — one Brown would’ve had to confront regardless of his team’s recent performance.“The fact that we’re in first place now,” he said, “it makes it a lot sweeter when we go through the process.”