And it’s down to two. I already did a
breakdown on the Braves so I thought it was right to do one of the Astros.
With the elimination of the Dodgers in the NLCS, the Astros are enemy number one on many baseball fans lists. This is, of course, tied to the sign stealing scandal back in 2017. That’s a whole other topic that I might focus on sometime, but for now I want to focus on their great season. The Astros put together a remarkable season posting 95-67 record. A little like the Dodgers, the Astros started off the season a little shaky. 35 games into the season, they had a mediocre 18-17 record. Why? They weren’t beating the teams they should have beat. They started the season with a four game sweep of Oakland, but quickly began dropping games. They were swept by the Tigers, Rockies, and lost 2 of 3 to the Mariners. I really couldn’t figure out why, as they were healthy and their stats were pretty good over that time. They averaged 5 runs while hitting .260 with a 3.97 ERA over the time. Most of the games were fairly close, but it is still very interesting. Something else that is interesting is that the Astros didn’t have the West locked up as most people thought they would. Instead the Mariners and Athletics were on their tails for most of the way. At the trade deadline, the ‘Stros had a 5.5 game lead on the A’s with Seattle just a few behind them. Although, despite the Mariners and Astros being locked in a division race, Seattle ceded their setup man Graveman to Houston. This was a huge pickup for the Astros bullpen. He was a great piece for the Astros and has continued to be in the postseason. With the Astros taking from their opponent and gaining strength themselves, the division race would soon be over. Now into the postseason they went and they would make quick work of the White Sox. For the White Sox, it was a highly anticipated season coming to an end abruptly. The Astros practically steamrolled through
them to get back to the ALCS, where they would face the Red Sox. The Sox gave Houston a little bit of a tougher task. Clutch hitting in game 4 would even the series and from there it
was smooth sailing. And now here they are.
Do you agree with me?
Responses
Amazing analysis!