According to http://www.playoffstatus.com/mlb/mlbpostseasonprob.html the Astros currently have a 80% chance to make it to the playoffs, 67% to either win the division or win the wild card play-in game, 32% to make it to the ALCS, 14% to make it to World Series, and 7% chance to win the World Series! http://www.fangraphs.com/coolstandings.aspx is a little more detailed, having the Angels expected wins to be 88.5 and the Astros at 87.7...They give the Angels a 54.7% to win the AL West and give the Astros a 43.7% of winning it. To begin the season, the Astros had a 4.8% chance of winning the AL West.
Wonder if they will start flipping those numbers. Kazmir will add another 2 to 3 wins. Getting Lowrie and Springer back(higher OBP guys) should help this offense. One more starting pitcher and this team will be loaded. Adding another guy to push McHugh back to a 5th starter makes this team World series contenders.
Haven't really added an exponential piece such as Kazmir. They are grabbing utility guys to patch up the lineup. I am not convinced. They need another hitter to protect Pujols. Nobody on that roster will do so.
Hi, my name is Mike Trout. You might not know this but I play for the Angels. I can hit the baseball. A little bit.
Trout hits third to Pujols fourth. Nobody as of now is scary to pitch to behind him. There is a reason Carlos Correa is getting pitched around right now with Evan Gattis or Valbuena behind him. There is a reason George Springer was tearing it up as a 2 hole hitter with Correa behind him.
Springer was batting leadoff the entire time Correa was in the 3 spot. Altuve was batting 2nd. Not that it changes your point much.
We have a 100% chance of getting in! But seriously, we have a ton of AL West games. Take 2 of 3 against our foes and we should stay out in front. Kazmir is pitching better than he was with the A's in his 1st 2 starts. Maybe some of that magic can rub off on Flier and Gomez. Flier is already sub 4.00 era and Gomez is a former all-star. I could see them improving here under this leadership and playing for a team that's competing. Maybe re-energize their desire to win as opposed to going through the motions with the Brew Crew. As for the playoffs, we could have some sort of combination of... C .216 Jason Castro 1B .184 Chris Carter 2B .302 Jose Altuve SS .297 Carlos Correa 3B .286 Jed Lowrie LF .266 Preston Tucker CF .262 Carlos Gomez RF .264 George Springer DH .246 Evan Gattis C .237 Hank Conger 1B/3B .198 Luis Valbuena UT .266 Marwin Gonzalez OF .235 Jake Marisnick OF .236 Colby Rasmus SP 2.10 Scott Kazmir SP 2.32 Dallas Keuchel SP 2.48 Lance McCullers SP 3.89 Mike Fiers SP 3.93 Vincent velasquez SP 4.43 Collin McHugh SP 4.54 Scott Feldman RP 1.37 Will Harris RP 2.56 Pat Neshek RP 2.70 Josh Fields RP 2.75 Tony Sipp RP 3.29 Luke Gregerson RP 4.20 Chad Qualls Batting averages look much better with the return of Lowrie/Springer(soon) and Gomez. Wonder what we do with the pitchers with all of the quality SP. First we have to make the playoffs but I'm excited about the improved batting averages for sure if they can stay consistent.
I'm absolutey floored that Vegas will still give you 16/1 odds on the Astros. This team is deep and has a very formidable 1-2 pitching punch. I don't remember an Astros team with this kind of depth.
Pitching depth? The 2005 Astros say hello: Roger Clemens Andy Petite Roy Oswalt Brandon Backe Astacio Qualls Wheeler Lidge Batting Depth: The 1998 Astros say what up: Biggio Bell Bagwell Alou Berry Carl Everett Hidalgo Ausmus/Eusebio Spiers Guttierez those were great years
Those playoff teams were great. The pitching definitely was better than this one, but I'm not sure I wouldn't out Keuchel/Kazmir up against anyone the way they're going. That 1998 offense was incredible, but was not clutch when it mattered. I cant wait to find out if this offense is clutch come playoff time.
1980 Astros Pitchers say hello to the 2005 squad. Nolan Ryan JR Richard Joe Niekro Ken Forche Joe Sambito Dave Smith Joaquin Andujar
Agreed. Not ready to crown this years team with anything but they certainly can be special. Hopefully they'lol rank up there
The 1986 pitching staff was pretty damn good as well Mike Scott Nolan Ryan Bob Knepper Jim Dishaes Dave Smith Charlie Keefeild
PLAYOFFS??? my all-time favorite astros post on clutchfans. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=244504&page=2
Lidge was already SHIIT by then.. Wandy was also very serviceable, he did a great job when clemens left early in game 1..
The '98 hitters were mostly CRAP postseason performers. The current team has potential to be better playoff-wise... they can't be worse.