The Houston Astros are riding a five-game winning streak heading into the three-game weekend series against the Milwaukee Brewers. Houston has shown at points this season that they have not been as good as they have hoped for.
Joe Espada is in his first season as manager. Dusty Baker retired after last season. Houston has been in the ALCS for the last seven seasons, but that is in serious jeopardy this season. Entering this series against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Astros are currently in third place in the American League West with a 19-25 record.
Houston just swept the Oakland Athletics in a four-game series. Oakland (19-27) is in fourth place in the division and the Los Angeles Angels (16-28) are in last place in the American League West division. The offense this season for the Astros has not been a problem, but the starting pitching has been an issue for them. This year, Houston leads the entire MLB in batting average with .261. Milwaukee is third in baseball with a .259 team batting average.
The Astros have the fourth-worst MLB in the ERA this season at 4.58. As for the Brewers, their ERA this season is 3.96 which is ranked 15 in the MLB for manager Pat Murphy.
The Houston Astros Need to Beat the Milwaukee Brewers To Keep Pace of the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners
Houston needs to sweep this series against Milwaukee in order to keep pace with the Texas Rangers and the Seattle Mariners in the American League Central. Texas has a 23-22 record this season. They are the defending World Series Champions. The Rangers knocked out the Astros from the playoffs last year.
The Seattle Mariners are currently leading the American League Central with a 24-20 record. Seattle has not won the American League West division since the 2001 season. The last time that the Astros did not win the division was during the 2020 shortened season when the Oakland Athletics won the division and that was the last time it felt like Oakland was relevant.
The Houston Astros will have to win another six games in a row just to get to .500. Yes baseball is a long season, but it feels like Houston putting themselves in a hole is not going to matter. All good things have to come to an end eventually.
They will probably be selling at the MLB trade deadline this season. Houston does need to replenish its farm system and that would not be a bad thing for this franchise. It could use a reset. It also feels like only one team from this division will make it to the playoffs anyway. The American League Central and the American League East will get a couple of teams to the MLB postseason from their respective divisions. It will be either the Mariners or Texas and it won’t be the Astros.
