Four Biggest Questions for Houston Astros at 50 Game Mark of 2024 Season.
As we sit here at the fifty game mark of the Major League Baseball season, as I type this during the middle of an off day for the Houston Astros, oddly enough, I find myself reminiscing about the shortened COVID season in 2020. At 22-28, the last time the Astros got off to this poor of a start was in that season, which finished at 29-31, with the Astros sneaking into the postseason with the final playoff spot.
If you recall, after barely qualifying for an expanded playoff, the Astros went on a tear that eventually led to them making the ALCS (again) and taking the Tampa Bay Rays to a seventh game. So why does that matter now? Well, it’s a good lesson that even good teams play mediocre baseball for 50 or 60 game periods.
Again, at 22-28, by measure of their won-loss record, this Astros team is not a good baseball team. However, they’ve warmed up of late, going 7-3 in their most recent homestand, and sit on the cusp of a massive opportunity to carve into their deficit in the AL West this weekend and next week. Starting tonight, they have three games in Oakland against an A’s team they just swept, and then four games in Seattle to play the Mariners, whom they trail by five games in the standnngs.
For now, with an off day to reflect, let’s look at the most pressing questions facing the Houston Astros in the days and weeks to come:
Kyle Tucker is having the best season of his career in 2024.
Kyle Tucker is having the best season of his career in 2024. Photo by Jack Gorman
As we sit here at the fifty game mark of the Major League Baseball season, as I type this during the middle of an off day for the Houston Astros, oddly enough, I find myself reminiscing about the shortened COVID season in 2020. At 22-28, the last time the Astros got off to this poor of a start was in that season, which finished at 29-31, with the Astros sneaking into the postseason with the final playoff spot.
If you recall, after barely qualifying for an expanded playoff, the Astros went on a tear that eventually led to them making the ALCS (again) and taking the Tampa Bay Rays to a seventh game. So why does that matter now? Well, it’s a good lesson that even good teams play mediocre baseball for 50 or 60 game periods.
Again, at 22-28, by measure of their won-loss record, this Astros team is not a good baseball team. However, they’ve warmed up of late, going 7-3 in their most recent homestand, and sit on the cusp of a massive opportunity to carve into their deficit in the AL West this weekend and next week. Starting tonight, they have three games in Oakland against an A’s team they just swept, and then four games in Seattle to play the Mariners, whom they trail by five games in the standnngs.
For now, with an off day to reflect, let’s look at the most pressing questions facing the Houston Astros in the days and weeks to come:
How does this Jose Abreu situation ultimate resolve itself?
For the last month or so, first baseman Jose Abreu has been at the Astros rookie developmental camp in West Palm Beach trying to figure out what’s wrong with his swing. It’s an unprecedented move for a team to invoke (and a player to accept, for that matter) to try to get an aging player to perform. As of Thursday, Abreu had “checked all the boxes” for a return to playing real baseball again. It appears that
will start with a couple games in Sugar Land at the AAA level, and inevitably, Abreu will return to the Astros. My hope is that the Astros have a very, VERY short rope with him. If Abreu looks just as lost in his first few games back in Houston as he did when he left, then eject, pay the freight, and get him out of here. I hate that a struggling team is wasting valuable at-bats on a guy who is likely washed up.
What will the starting rotation look like come September?
It feels weird to say this about a starting rotation that’s been so injured and inconsistent, but the Astros are on the cusp of having a surplus of big league starting pitchers, and Joe Espada is going to have some big decisions to make to whittle what could be a list of nine down to five, maybe six, starting pitchers. Here’s how it lays out, as of now:
