So yeah. Houston Astros. They're still one of the best teams in baseball. What, did you expect something different?
Look, they may have lost a few crucial pieces of their championship team, like Dallas Keuchel, Evan Gattis and Brian McCann, but they're still strong. Without those two catchers, they now have a professional defensive backstop, Robinson Chirinos, who can also hit kinda well. And they also still have Max Stassi. Fun.
Also, instead of Keuchel, they've re-moted Brad Peacock and Collin McHugh to the rotation, which was a good idea, as both of them, especially McHugh and his 20+ strikeouts, have taken to the rotation like fish to water. Even Wade Miley is a considerable upgrade from Keuchel's inconsistent numbers...and his beard's cleaner.
Additionally, a healthy Michael Brantley has been a worthy and great addition to the lineup, already hitting .300 and getting a few RBIs. And Ken Giles is FINALLY working as a closer again. Add those to the canon of people we KNEW were gonna be awesome in 2018, like Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve, Justin Verlander, George Springer and Alex Bregman, and you've got a pretty awesome baseball team.
The only problem is...the Astros are playing in the AL West in a year when A.) two teams got a two game head start in Japan, and B.) the Mariners are absolutely KILLING IT RIGHT NOW. That team is a frigging monster truck crushing everything in its path, hitting more home runs than thought possible, and making the Astros' first few games kinda tricky. So they may need to figure out how to get past them, because the Wild Card race might be tricky this year with the Tigers, Yankees, Angels and Twins all trying to compete.
Still...very promising start from a team we were expecting good things from.
Coming Tomorrow- He's got long hair, he throws fire, and his dad's a Hall of Famer.
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