Let's assume the Astros have righted the ship and stay in contention for the rest of the year - divisional and/or wild card... How will be you process a competitive second half that ends with ~85 wins but no postseason? Just curious... My expectation is always meaningful September baseball - if I get that, I'm usually satisfied with the season. Trailing is hard; there are too many factors out of your control - especially with the wildcard, which could have as many as 2-4 teams also chasing. If we gt meaningful September baseball *and* develop Reed and/or Bregman (or 1 or 2 other potential prospects), I'll be doubly satisfied.
If the team is competitive and makes a move or 2 at the deadline aimed at improving the ML team (which could include bringing Bregman up), I'll be happy. An 85 win season indicates a 37-36 2nd half. With improvements, I expect the team to do a little better than that. I'll be ok with an 85 win season if it comes with being within ~2 games of the the final playoff spot, but would prefer ~87 to say "even with the early issues, improvement vs. 2015". And yes, would much rather have that 1 game playoff at minimum of course. If all of this can happen while developing Reed/Bregman, getting Keuchel close to 2015 form, and/or trading for a controlled starter and/or hitter.. then it'll feel like 2017 is also trending the right way.
I'd be very disappointed if we didn't make the postseason. If we won 90 games and fell short, I could probably live with that, but I think as long as we don't continue to struggle against the Rangers, that we will come away with the division.
Duh...they must go undefeated. Any loss is unacceptable and Hinch should be fired. In reality, I'd like to know that the last month+ is the norm rather than the 1st month. I'd be disappointed in no postseason but, like Hey Now!, I love meaningful September baseball. If we're in the race, I feel good about our chances to make it.
Current Record: 48-41 Overall, even tho they're playing much better and got off to a terrible start to the season, i'll be pretty disappointed if they dont make the playoffs considering the expectations. With 73 games remaining, goal should be to finish with 90+ wins (finishing record 42-31). I think that's very doable with the way this team's been playing. Astros have 9 games remaining against the Rangers, and the Rangers have owned the Astros so far (1-9 against Rangers so far). For this team to win the division, i think they absolutely have to win 6 out of the remaining 9 against the them.
I would love winning the division, that's expectation 1. Shows growth from last year. But I would take wild card. It's going to be tough fighting off KC, Baltimore, Boston, and Toronto. Beating them out would be an accomplishment. That's #2. #3 is all of the following happening: Keuchel continues to right the ship They have solid consistency at the 1st and 3rd base of the future They find an ace (or two), may or may not be Keuchel
I was thinking Astros would be about a 90-win team at start of season expecting Astros to pick up some help at deadline. The Astros are slightly off that pace. The big thing that has changed is that the Rangers went bonkers. I expect they'll continue to come down to earth, but do still have a big lead.
I pegged them for 85-95 wins before the season, so it'd be hard to be too disappointed with an 85 win season even if they don't make the playoffs. However, if they stand pat at the deadline while the Rangers, Sox, and Jays (among others) significantly improve, I will be a little peeved. If the Rangers get Lucroy I'm going to be pissed unless their farm gets completely ransacked in the process.
I'm with you on all of these. I actually would rather the Astros stick with a Castro/Gattis platoon than give up a massive haul for Lucroy. BUT..I'd rather prevent the Rangers from getting Lucroy more--unless, like you said, they give up Profar + a top 2 prospect in their system or something.
For me, I think my expectations aren't so much with the overall record, but with how they fare against the division. If they can continue their run against the Angels and Mariners, while taking AT LEAST 5 out of the remaining 9 against the Rangers, I think the rest of the season will take care of itself. Obviously playoffs is the ultimate goal, but if they miss out after getting to 87 wins, I don't think anybody can fault them.
85 wins would be a weak even if making playoffs. Can't say 90 wins and missing playoffs would be better though.
40 wins Trading for another hitter and bringing up Bregman. Continued development of Reed/Bregman/Martes/Musgrove etc...
I just want Correa to get pissed that he is an afterthought for the ASG and scorch the Earth in the second half. If that happens, everything else will fall into place.
I expect us to end up in the 87-89 win range. Playoff wise, I expect Seattle to stay close, but remaining a few games behind us. The Rangers are a wildcard though. Not only is it hard to predict how long their downturn will last and how healthy they will be August/September, but how we do in those nine critical games we still have against them. Healthy or not, it will be interesting to see if the Rangers regroup somewhat after the break. All things considered, id rather take the division and avoid a wildcard battle. The Royals are likely to make a push. The AL East (Baltimore, Boston, Toronto) should be a dogfight with the two losers being significant wildcard possibilities. The road to the division title looks easier than a wildcard birth to me. Anything can happen though.
