they've been self inflicting wounds by two players that led to a bleed out. we should have taken this series 3-1, but when you play the royals it's like they're playing with extra help like that angels in the outfield movie. I expect things to even out.
Well... it pierces the idea that they were a mediocre team that rode a hot start, right? Had that played out, the Yankees roll and the Astros are one-game and done playoff team. But they were, what? six outs away from flushing the Royals in 4? They're a good team that is very young and inexperienced. They'll be OK - but a slight regression this year is no reason to panic. Remember, SI predicted they'd win the World Series in 2017; they're ahead of schedule.
I don't think it pierces the idea at all. I don't think one game in NY tells you who the better team is necessarily...or speaks to the entirety of the Astros season.
The main reason SI predicted the Astros to win it all this year was because they based it on the "year before performance factor". Out of all teams that go on to win the World Series, the average position they finished at the year before was about the 10th best in baseball... 10.6 to be exact (last year, Astros finished 10th, Angels finished 11th... they went with the Astros). This obviously means nothing at all... but I again stress that its hard to fake it in baseball. Definitely can do it in football, where one year anomalies happen quite frequently. Basketball does have a large sample size... but more teams make the playoffs than not, and we have examples of lower seeded teams getting hot and running the table at the right time. They certainly had the run differential to suggest if anything, they underachieved... but its entirely plausible to suggest that they were who their record suggested.
This team "CAN" have great pitching (I expect a trade for a stud in July), a very good bullpen (or great, jury's still out), a solid lineup that will score somewhere in the top-5 in runs, and good-to-great defense everywhere. They just are making too many mistakes right (they are playing like **** frankly) now in all facets of the game (I count at least 4 games they should have won). I sure hope they learn from and/or grow out of it. I don't know, I'm enjoying the ride. 152 games left.
