(As a New Jersey resident, you have no idea how badly i had to cringe in order to make that the title.)
We cannot ignore how horrible the hurricane in Houston was last week. Even baseball noticed the destruction, as a few Astros games had to take place in Tampa, until everything boiled over. There was talk of the storm trying to kill the feel-good story of the unstoppable Astros. And yes, since their unstoppable start to the season, the Astros have cooled down a bit, losing a few too many matches, and coming down from the high horse, now at 85 wins, as the Indians try to catch up to them for the first seed.
The pitching in Houston may be what separates them from the pack. In addition from Cy-caliber Dallas Keuchel, a surprising breakout from Brad Peacock, and the astonishing returns of Lance McCullers and Collin McHugh...Justin Verlander is now pitching for the Astros, and last night he had a phenomenal debut performance. Even with mega-rotations like Cleveland and New York showing up on the horizon, the Astros look like they're gonna do their damnedest to hang onto that seed.
The lineup's not worrying me either. Springer and Correa are healthy, Altuve's still on his way to an MVP, Reddick and Bregman are still hot, and the bench is pretty nice. Plus, Ken Giles finally gets to close games for a competing team, which I couldn't be prouder of.
So yeah...the Astros have strapped in for the last bit of this season, and I couldn't be more excited.
Coming Tonight: Improving catcher, now playing for a potential Wild Card team.
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