By : Mike Rifkin
The Houston Astros have a 48-27 record and lead the American League West by 11.5 games. Now all of the talk in the American League has been about how good the Yankees are, how much fun the Blue Jays are to watch, the White Sox struggles, etc…. The division they play in is bad. The Angels have struggled, Mariners and Rangers have had rough patches and the Athletics surrendered before the season started but the Astros just take care of their own business.
In their last nine games the Astros played the Mets and Yankees and went 7-2. And if their bullpen didn’t implode twice against the Yankees that record could’ve been better. The main reason they were so good was their starting pitching which over this nine game span had a 1.52 ERA and gave up 28 hits in 59.1 innings pitched. The Astros rotation is led by 39 year old Justin Verlander who coming off of Tommy John Surgery, on Wednesday became the first pitcher in baseball to 10 wins and as of right now is probably the front runner to start the All Star Game. Guys like Cristian Javier and Framber Valdez have solidified a rotation that doesn’t have Lance McCullers Jr. hasn’t thrown a pitch for them this season. The bullpen even with their two implosions against the Yankees have a 2.73 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP. Closer Ryan Pressly has a 3.68 ERA and 17 saves leads the way for this bullpen. Guys like Rafael Montero and Hector Neris both of whom have had their struggles in the past have had excellent seasons.
Then there is the Astros offense which is fourth in baseball with 103 home runs. The Astros average 4.29 runs per game, last year they averaged 5.34 runs per game. Two guys who have struggled to start the season are Alex Bregman and Yuli Gurriel. Bregman has a slash line of .242/.360/.410 with nine home runs and 38 RBI. Gurriel has a slash line of .226/.277/.385 with six home runs and 21 RBI. It is hard to imagine if Gurriel keeps struggling the Astros don’t search for another bat at the trade deadline. One guy who has had an excellent season and is an AL MVP candidate is Yordan Alvarez who leads the Astros in all offensive categories. Alvarez has a slash line of .316/.412/.658 with 23 home runs and 56 RBI. Jose Altuve still does his thing at the top of the lineup with a .264 average and 15 home runs. Jeremy Pena who was the reason the Astros let Carlos Correa walk in free agency is hitting .275 with nine home runs and has played a really good shortstop.
They are led by Dusty Baker and the only thing on his resume to check off is a World Series Championship. You don’t have to like the Astros for what happened in 2017, but consistently they are one of the best teams in all of baseball. They can play any style you want a slugfest they can do that or they can have a pitchers duel as well. Right now for me the Astros are the best team in baseball and don’t be surprised if the Astros are once again the American League representative in the World Series.
The Sports Insanity Network 