They are only a game and a half behind the yankees. This is unreal. They are like a BUG, haha. How did this team lose Bregman, Tucker and Yordan and they are still a juggernaut?
juggernaut? i don't think astros fans even think their own team is a juggernaut. their goal right now is to win the division then see where it will take them.
Trading Kyle Tucker a great player - for 2 solid players in Isaac and Cam helped the roster a ton. When we get Yordan and Isaac back the batting lineup will be really solid for a playoff push. Also we have one of the best pitching development staff in the entire MLB. Seems like tons of pitchers come to the astros and revive their careers. Yusei Kikuchi for example had an average 4.0-5.0 ERA with the Blue Jays. He came to the astros and have a sub 3.5 ERA and now continues his dominance in the Angels bullpen.
We've set a higher standard though, which is the world series, and unfortunately, we are moving further from that standard every year with the moves. So while making the playoffs is nothing to scoff at, we moved on from that. We expect more. Same goes for the pitching staff. We are used to having at least one Cy Young elite level talent, sometimes two, and a fist-full of above average pitchers to fill it out. Right now we have two pitchers outperforming their metrics in Hunter and Framber, and suspects filling out the remainder of the rotation. So not sure everyone shares the same perspective. We walk in the shoes of a champion now.
It's a lot like the very old Astros when they were in the dome. Pitching with just enough hitting to win close games. The dome, particularly in the original configuration, was a pitcher's paradise and scoring was often a matter of moving a single baserunner around the bases with an occasional (toy) Cannon or Rooster thrown in. But this group is having more success with it. Pitching is a little better and a few more players can score a run. But the defense can win games too.
Best Record in AL - Home Field Advantage is a Huge Must in the Postseason. No Best Record - Instead of Best of 3 - Against Wild Card. Very Hard to Win and advance. Very Stressful and Taxing with No Breaks, Nonstop. Astros lost to the Tigers in 2024. Best Record in AL - Home Field Advantage - Longer Break before Best of 7 Series.
Remember the 1990s - 2000s Atlanta Braves and St Louis Cardinals Pitching Staff and Pitching Coaches. That is how the Astros operate. Astros Draft better pitchers after 2nd Round. Braves, Rays - Pitching Development on another Level.
If the pitching staff holds up through a playoff run, this team can get to the world series. Altuve is still Altuve. Yordan is yordan and Pena is becoming Kenny Lofton. Christian Walker is going to do something in the playoffs and I just LOVE Isaac Paredes. The guy seems clutch, like another Yuri Gurriel. The astros have a lot of silent killers in that hitting lineup, and frankly I think the pitching is more untested beyond our stars. So if pitching can hold up, I really think this team can make a run.
How are they moving farther away? Hunter and Framber are 2 of the best pitchers in MLB and the lineup with studs Alvarez/Parades and to an extent Dezenzo hurt for multiple weeks is doing great considering that it's put together with bailing wire. Losing Blanco and Wisnewski plus not having Javier/Garcia has really tested the Stros pitching depth and that depth has proven to be up to the task at hand. Let Dana add a guy like Sale at the deadline and if they really want to go for it a bat and with health this team will be as good as most of the other Stros teams. I've really been amazed that they're doing as well as they're doing with what I listed above and Diaz/Walker not playing well and Altuve having an off year for his standards.
I don't think we are moving backwards at all. We still have two Cy Young level pitchers ... I don't know what you mean by 'outperforming their metrics'. I fully expect Framber and Hunter to stay ace-level the balance of year. Besides one bad game from each, they have been incredibly consistent and reliable. Similarly the top two in the bullpen have been exceptional and should stay that way. The rest of the staff, both SP and RP, have plenty of guys performing well, so even if some slip, on average they will be fine (esp with potential returns of Spencer and Garcia). The lineup is being killed by injuries, but Yanier and even Walker are on the way up (there were great rolling WAR graphs posted earlier that show both are now hitting well above average), Pena seems quite consistent, Meyers has settled into slightly above average, and Altuve probably similar. If Yordan comes back as even 80% Yordan and Paredes returns, we will have three elite hitters (Yordan, Paredes, Pena), three well above average (Yanier, Altuve), two slightly above average (Meyers, Cam) and only on black hole (2B). Get a LH bat, ideally who can play second or push Altuve there, and this team is as good as any since 2019 and any in the AL.
Is it though? Astros are the only sports franchise in the history of planet earth to lose 4 homes games in a best of 7 4-3 format series...and they have done it twice. Astros might have 2 more championships if they didn't have home field advantage in 2019 and 2023 (and of course a different manager in 2023).
AJ Hinch is a terrible Manager using Will Harris over and over blew Game 7 in 2019 as usual. Will Harris blew a Game vs KC Royals in 2015.
