Ive been very impressed with how good the Stros are this year. We’ve come to expect the Stros to be in the mix for top of the AL but I didn’t expect them to be this good. The dominance of Verlander coming back from surgery, the continued excellence of Framber, the continued excellence of Altuve and Bergman, and the rise of Yordan and Tucker. For the rest of y’all of this season doesn’t end in a WS championship or appearance has this season been a bust?
Hansoku-make. This is a world series win or an under new management sign in the window. Click, Dusty and their staffs will have wasted one of the best opportunities I have ever seen.
Just like 2019 it’ll be a shame if they don’t win it all, but this has been such a fun team to watch/follow. This team is better than 2017 but not as good as 2019. Probably the 3rd best team they’ve had during this run. Shame Gurriel has sucked so bad, Meyers got hurt, and Pena fell off in the 2nd half, otherwise it’d be in the mix for best Astros team ever.
This 100%. It'd be disappointing if they don't win the WS, but you're setting yourself up for disappointment if you expect that. There's a reason why winning back-to-back championships is basically unheard of in baseball now. It's too much to ask/expect even the best teams to consistently win WS's. If you look at the two best teams in baseball over the prior five years (the Astros and Dodgers) Both had three 100win seasons. Both made the World Series 3 times and lost twice. Baseball is too chaotic to pencil in a WS victory at any point.
I expect to make the WS, but it's such a crapshoot with who wins it all. Depends on who is the hottest going into it that week, just like in 2019 and somewhat last year. I'll be disappointed if Astros don't win it, mainly because I feel with how good they've been for so many years only winning 1 WS was not enough. The most disappointed was definitely 2019. Fcking Nationals, luck was just on their side.
Also, this seems long forgotten but the Astros were not penciled in to be anywhere nearly as good as they are now. Pre-season, most media outlets had them regressing to a low to mid-90's win team. They're on a 105 win pace. This has been one of the most enjoyable seasons to watch that I can remember. Top rotation, top bullpen, MVP Yordan, that early ROY campaign Pena put up, JV returning to form, Framber becoming a total badass, Tucker becoming a legit all-star, Bregman rounding back into all-star form, Tuve continuing his march to the HOF, Abreu becoming a bullpen weapon, Stanek putting up an all-time reliever season, Seth Martinez having a zero era for like his first 17 innings. The list goes on and on.
One last Hail Mary. The Astros are nearly out of time to make any significant improvement, but I would like to see one last stab at it. Mine would be to rotate Diaz, Diaz and Mancini at DH and first base for the next couple of weeks. Sending Gurriel to Palm Beach to spend some time in an intensive coaching effort get his hitting headed back in the right direction. If successful bring him back to play first base. If not bring him back to play off the bench and move ahead with the best of the Diazes and Mancini, bringing in Gurriel to play low leverage innings in the play-offs. Is there a last ditch effort to improve the play-off odds you would want to try if you could?
2017 was a full season. 2020 was not even close. I know what you're getting at, but I do not believe banging trash cans was far more egregious than electronic signaling by opponents. It's actually laughable,
There’s too much randomness in playoff baseball to lean too heavily into that mindset. What we should be happy with is how consistent this team has been of championship quality. Here we are again with another great opportunity.
Small suggestion. Make the time off a recruiting trip for Gurriel to become Astros Cuban Player Special Advisor. Ask him to recruit Bryan Abreu.
If the Astros did that, I guarantee they lose the locker-room. There is no circumstance where sending a highly respected veteran to fall instructs two weeks before the playoffs does anything positive. Any faith in Dusty or the FO would be burned. (that's beyond the point that as a veteran he cannot be optioned to a minor league assignment without his permission, which he wouldn't give). While Dusty isn't a perfect manager, people severely underrate the value of soft skills/people skills on managing a ball club and how crazy good he is at that. The very fact that when the Astros fail, everyone blames Dusty and not the individual players is remarkable. There's been no hints of scandal, no hints of personality conflicts, no complaints of playing time, several players are having career years. The fact that basically no one still talks about the cheating scandal is a testament to Dusty. He's got the club performing like the 100-win club it is.
And you (and all Houston fans) would have simply shrugged your shoulders and said "well, that's baseball", if it were the Dodgers winning the WS over Houston and them getting caught cheating?
My oh my. It looks like Dusty wants to win this getaway day game. R 2B ALTUVE, Jose R SS PEÑA, Jeremy L LF ALVAREZ, Yordan R 3B BREGMAN, Alex L RF TUCKER, Kyle R 1B GURRIEL, Yuli R DH MANCINI, Trey R CF McCORMICK, Chas R C MALDONADO, Martin
Huh? We know they were cheating, just like we knew the yankees were cheating and boston was cheating. It’s like anyone who isn’t clueless was surprised…..it was common knowledge at the time
If it were the Dodgers who were punished for relaying signs via electronics and banging trash cans AND the Dodgers beat Houston in the 2017 WS (and the Astros weren't banging trash cans)- you would have been perfectly OK with their victory?
