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2018 Houston Astros Season Thread

Planet Houston

By Planet Houston
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TexArcher
TexArcher

Bregs is going Crawford Boxes right here.

ERhine
ERhine

Prior to the footage being edited by Bender:

wesleywest
wesleywest

Two Diamond Club tickets available for the Sunday night game.  Free.  Need to pick them up from me in 77027. Rules: Poster must be a big contributor to this thread/last years shag thread.  No gue

henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29169

Posted
Posted

bregs got interviewed on mlb network after the game.  when asked if he thought he would come through, he said that altuve told him he wasn't bringing his batting gloves or bat to the on deck circle, so he knew he needed to get it done.

is there anyone you'd rather have up there than alex fucking bregman?  on the flipside, springer needs to get off his ass.  i was not excited about him coming up.

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YChang

YChang 3425

Posted
Posted
Having Collin mchugh available in your bullpen is such a huge luxury. Guy has been lights out this year


Collin deserves a lot of credit. I wasn’t a fan of him as a starter — mainly because he would always have that one meltdown inning and then proceeded to shut down the other team.

He’s been fantastic in this new role.
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ScottishHorn

ScottishHorn 172

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

bregs got interviewed on mlb network after the game.  when asked if he thought he would come through, he said that altuve told him he wasn't bringing his batting gloves or bat to the on deck circle, so he knew he needed to get it done.

is there anyone you'd rather have up there than alex fucking bregman?  on the flipside, springer needs to get off his ass.  i was not excited about him coming up.

Springer is streaky.  He is in a bit of a funk currently but he's not near a Marisnik level 

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UTexasFight

UTexasFight 9362

Posted
Posted
also, can someone do a quick summary of some of the wildness we've seen from our starting pitching during this streak?  some of the sloppy defense?  yeah, we're hitting, but we're not even playing great baseball right now.  the league is super fucked when we do.

The offense and pitching/defense can keep taking turns sucking/ being mediocre all they want it If means playing .662 ball (107 win pace).

Just get them both aligned in the “great baseball” column come October.

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ScottishHorn

ScottishHorn 172

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

also, can someone do a quick summary of some of the wildness we've seen from our starting pitching during this streak?  some of the sloppy defense?  yeah, we're hitting, but we're not even playing great baseball right now.  the league is super fucked when we do.

We do have the best fielding percentage in the league.   It's pretty awesome really

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WBT

WBT 20376

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

mlb network cannot get enough of this team.  harold reynolds basically called us the perfect baseball team.  derosa thinks we're far and away the best team in mlb, and byrnes couldn't disagree when given several opportunities.

 

I just hope people are enjoying this.  I realize people like to bitch and vent in the moment when things go wrong but sometimes I just don't get some of the comments here (even after utgrad is gone!).   There's a very good chance that when this window closes you'll never have a chance to watch an Astros team this good again.

Edited by WBT
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ScottishHorn

ScottishHorn 172

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Posted

As good as this team is, pitching ultimately wins championships.   A hot pitcher can shut down any great lineup.   Last year was a magical year. A couple outs when we had clutch hitting and we lose to Boston.  A young Yankees team that is much improved this year too us to 7 games.  The Dodgers took us to 7 and we had a hand from God to win game 5.  Anything can happen

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29169

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, ScottishHorn said:

We do have the best fielding percentage in the league.   It's pretty awesome really

we are awesome, but we've had a few ugly lapses not often seen when "everything is going perfectly".  bregs throwing home, correa booting a grounder, yuli missing a pop-up.  just nice to know we can still improve.

our starters era during this streak is also well over 4 (i think).

i'm not bitching, i think it's great.  

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Seasick Sailor

Seasick Sailor 3747

Posted
Posted
21 minutes ago, ScottishHorn said:

As good as this team is, pitching ultimately wins championships.   A hot pitcher can shut down any great lineup.   Last year was a magical year. A couple outs when we had clutch hitting and we lose to Boston.  A young Yankees team that is much improved this year too us to 7 games.  The Dodgers took us to 7 and we had a hand from God to win game 5.  Anything can happen

we can pitch a little bit too.

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FondrenRoad

FondrenRoad 4378

Posted
Posted
55 minutes ago, henrygandorf said:

also, can someone do a quick summary of some of the wildness we've seen from our starting pitching during this streak?  some of the sloppy defense?  yeah, we're hitting, but we're not even playing great baseball right now.  the league is super fucked when we do.

It may just be that since they are getting more run support, they are taking their foot off the gas a little on pitching and defense. They're mostly playing loose and having fun which is a good thing. You cant expect our pitchers to pitch with playoff intensity every night. They'd be burned out by the playoffs. 

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Rimbo

Rimbo 25705

Posted
Posted

1. Question for any of y'all who were at MMP: was it as loud in the 9th as it sounded on tv? because it sounded fucking LOUD. Like "I can't hear the announcers" loud.

2. i hope some of y'all caught that the name of the Rays pitcher who choked the game away was Romo. Choking. Romo.

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Player

Player 4575

Posted
Posted

It was loud. Not game 7 ALCS or game 5 WS LOUD, but for a Monday night against the Rays?

Yeah, the crowd definitely got it going.

The crowds for dollar dog night have been pretty big all season, so hopefully it’s rocking tonight.

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Scraps

Scraps 13518

Posted
Posted

It was pretty loud.  I think....I was too busy beating off to the walk off to really recall.  

Next two should be the same.  I could tell a uptake on kids since school is out now, so more parents taking them to weekday games + $1 hot dog on Tues + ring giveaway on Wed.

Keep it rollin 

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ScottishHorn

ScottishHorn 172

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12 hours ago, WBT said:

 

I just hope people are enjoying this.  I realize people like to bitch and vent in the moment when things go wrong but sometimes I just don't get some of the comments here (even after utgrad is gone!).   There's a very good chance that when this window closes you'll never have a chance to watch an Astros team this good again.

Best in my lifetime.  Wont see it again.

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Johnny Sack

Johnny Sack 8397

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Just now, ScottishHorn said:

Yes.  I'm just saying to win a MLB title takes a lot.  Skill, luck, magic, gift from the gods, etc.

Absolutely, even if we win 107 games this year, once you get in the playoffs even the clearly best team only has about a 20% shot at the title.  This isn't basketball.

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Fozzz

Fozzz 152

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Posted
29 minutes ago, Seasick Sailor said:

And at a good price. We could have gotten him without giving up Tucker or Whitley. 

Herrera isn't worth much.  A similar deal (value wise) with us would have been a package of Corbin Martin, JD Davis, and one of our new DSL'ers.  No thanks.  

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Guest

Posted
Posted (edited)
12 hours ago, UTexasFight said:


3 Hall of famers in the prime of their careers...
I’m not one to argue with you

Bregman is in prime?

That isn’t to say his fielding and production haven’t been primo, but he’s still young as hell.

I see him still ascending.

Edited by slorch
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WBT

WBT 20376

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, slorch said:

Bregman is in prime?

That isn’t to say his fielding and production haven’t been primo, but he’s still young as hell.

I see him still ascending.

What if I told you he was 5 months older than Correa?

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29169

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, TonyTexas said:

The hyperbole has begun. Check out this article making a case for the Astros as the best team in the modern era.
The chart below is one of their strongest points.
https://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2018/6/19/17474200/astros-pythagorean-win-loss-modern-era
621a008a17a5eaaa8bd262b2e1668e45.jpg

if we win 104+ and win another world series, there will be plenty of people arguing we're the best team in decades.

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Mez2

Mez2 4020

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duct tape your boners to your leg:

 

Thanks to the heroics of Alex Bregman, the Astros made franchise history on Monday night. Down 4–3 in the ninth to the Rays and with an 11-game winning streak on the line, Houston rallied, keyed by Bregman’s two-run–walk-off double off Sergio Romo. That 12th straight win tied the team record for most consecutive victories, first set in 1999 and matched in 2004; another one on Tuesday night against Tampa will leave the 2018 Astros alone at the top.

But beyond putting their names into the record books, the Astros’ win streak is as good a sign as any that they haven’t missed a beat in their world championship defense. At 49–25, Houston is on a 107-win pace that would blow away last year’s 101–61 finish. They’re percentage points behind both the Red Sox (49–24) and Yankees (47–22) in the standings, but it’s hard not to consider the Astros to be baseball’s best team yet again.

It helps that they’re top of the charts in so many different categories. The Astros have the game’s highest run differential (+158) and have scored the most runs (388, 17 ahead of Boston). Houston hitters lead the majors in OPS+ (120) and wRC+ (117), are top three in every slash stat and are second only to the Yankees in weighted on-base average (.336). And they’re masters of putting the ball in play, ranking fifth in contact percentage (78.8, just a point behind first-place Atlanta) and first in swinging-strike rate (9.3%).

None of that should be surprising, given that the Astros are coming off one of the greatest offensive seasons in major league history. Last year’s Houston squad was a juggernaut, leading the league in runs, all three slash stats, OPS, OPS+, weighted on-base average, and wRC+, and finishing second in home runs all while posting the lowest strikeout rate in baseball. But in just about every major offensive stat, this year’s Astros are lagging behind last season’s crew, thanks mostly to slight drops in performance from AL MVP Jose Altuve (just five homers so far after hitting 24 last season), Carlos Correa, and George Springer.

BACCELLIERI: The Astros (predictably) lead our Power Rankings

Other members of the Astros’ vaunted lineup have also stumbled, particularly in the outfield. Leftfielder Marwin Gonzalez has regressed after his excellent season as a super-utility guy in 2017. Veteran rightfielder Josh Reddick has battled injuries and ineffectiveness. And reserve Jake Marisnick has been awful at the dish, with 60 strikeouts in 132 plate appearances and an OPS+ of 46. Luckily for Houston, better years from Bregman (.266/.371/.464 with a 137 OPS+) and Evan Gattis (a team-high 14 home runs and a 128 OPS+ a year after he went deep just 12 times and was barely league average at the plate) have cushioned those blows and kept the Astros’ offense at the top.

The Astros boasting that kind of firepower was already unfair. Where it gets infuriating for the rest of the American League is that the pitching has caught up. Last year’s Houston rotation was a patchwork construction, assembling innings and starts from 11 different pitchers but never looking all that strong. Somehow, the innings leader for that 101-win squad was Mike Fiers, who posted a 5.22 ERA and 76 ERA+. Regular starters Charlie Morton, Dallas Keuchel, Brad Peacock, Lance McCullers and Collin McHugh all struggled with injuries, with not one cracking the 150-inning mark, and by season’s end, only Keuchel, Morton and Peacock were comfortably above league average in ERA+.

image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn-s3.si.com%2F
 

The 2018 rotation, though, can reasonably claim to be not just the best in baseball, but, to this point, arguably one of the best in the game’s history. That’s thanks largely to Justin Verlander, who helped stabilize the rotation late in the season after coming over from Detroit and was the ace of the team’s playoff run, and Gerrit Cole, added this winter in a trade with Pittsburgh. The former has been unhittable, with an AL-best 1.61 ERA and 231 ERA+ to go with 120 strikeouts in 100 1/3 innings; since joining the Astros, he’s posted a jaw-dropping 1.47 ERA in 134 1/3 frames. Not to be left behind, Cole is amid his best season since his lone All-Star campaign in 2015: a 2.59 ERA, 144 ERA+ and 138 strikeouts in 100 2/3 innings. His strikeout rate of 36.1% trails only Max Scherzer among all qualified pitchers.

That, coupled with Morton’s unlikely evolution into prime Nolan Ryan (a staggering 105 strikeouts in 82 2/3 innings), has helped give the Astros a top-three that no other team can match and made up for a slip from Keuchel, who has a 4.15 ERA and 90 ERA+, and inconsistent results from McCullers. Astros starters lead the majors in ERA (2.97), quality start rate (73%) and strikeout rate (28.2%) and are second in swinging-strike rate (12.2%). The result is the fewest runs allowed in baseball (230) and its highest rotation WAR (10.3, by Fangraphs’ calculations). Not since the 1988 Mets has a rotation posted an ERA of 2.97 or lower in a season, and no team has cracked the 3.00 mark since the 2015 Cardinals squeaked under it at 2.99.

 

So the Astros still rake, and their rotation is now baseball’s best. But what about the bullpen that came perilously close to submarining their World Series run last season? A shaky unit full of talented yet inconsistent arms, that relief corps looked like, as Houston entered the season, the team’s potential Achilles heel (or elbow, I suppose). And as embattled closer Ken Giles has stumbled to a 4.56 ERA and 83 ERA+, it’s hard to imagine that unit has been able to keep up with the lineup and rotation.

Well, surprise: The Astros’ bullpen is also very good. Houston’s 2.75 ERA in relief is fourth best in baseball and tops in the AL, ahead of even the Yankees’ shutdown unit (though New York is No. 1 in relief WAR at 4.8, well ahead of Houston’s 3.7). Even carrying Giles’ subpar season, Astros relievers—including Peacock and McHugh, booted from the rotation but now soaring in relief—are second in strikeout rate and tops in walk rate. And Giles is no longer even entrusted with ninth-inning leads: That job now belongs to Cubs castoff Hector Rondon, who’s blossomed with his new team. The righty has a 1.38 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 26 innings and has received four of the Astros’ last five save chances, converting them all.

It helps the Astros’ numbers that their relievers face some of the fewest high-leverage situations in the game, on par with cellar dwellers like Baltimore and Cincinnati that never have leads to protect. It makes sense: Houston’s lineup routinely puts games out of reach, and Astros starters rarely leave messes to clean up. As a result, manager A.J. Hinch’s bunch doesn’t have to do much stressful work, and he almost never has to ask his relievers to pick up more than three outs at a time, keeping the unit rested and relaxed.

Is there a weak spot anywhere on the Astros? If there is, it’s pretty easily papered over by the superstars who are performing so far above average that they mask the deficiencies of those struggling. That’s bad news for everyone else in the AL, particularly the Mariners, who trail Houston by two games in the West despite going 29–15 since the start of May; the Astros, at 29–15 themselves, have matched them quite literally game for game. Worse for Seattle is that its division deficit could conceivably grow: While the Mariners’ next six games are against the powerhouse Yankees and Red Sox on the road, the Astros get to fatten up against the Rays, Blue Jays and Royals. In fact, Houston won’t face another above-.500 team for another month, while the M’s get six games against Mike Trout and the Angels before June is out.

In other words, don’t be surprised if the Astros’ winning streak stretches on a little bit longer. The best team in baseball, flawless in most facets, is poised to get even better. Good luck, rest of the AL.

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