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The Astros began this week in first place in the AL West. After losing three of the first four games of their series against the Rangers (including a 14-3 blowout on Wednesday), they’re now 1.5 games back of Texas, but still in possession of the Wild Card. With such a tight race going for these last two spots in the AL, it’s a bit surprising that Houston hasn’t fallen further in the standings while going 3-7 over their last 10. Everyone chasing them would need to win while Houston is losing, though, and that’s just not happening.
The Twins began this week a game back of the Rangers for the AL’s second Wild Card, and despite the Astros losing three in a row, Minnesota is now 1.5 games behind Houston for the same spot. The Angels were three back of Texas on Monday morning, and currently sit 3.5 back of the Astros. The Indians and Orioles both managed to improve their standing by a half game, but they are still four and 5.5 games out, respectively, so they needed to take more advantage of this slide than they have. Even the Yankees, who are in front of the Astros by 3.5 games, barely built on their lead over the second Wild Card: on Monday morning, they were three up on Texas.
So, while the Astros do need to end this recent spiral, they haven’t played themselves out of contention by any means. They have one more game against the Rangers on Thursday and three more later in the month, as well as a three-game set against the Angels. They can gain ground or at least keep one team at bay in those matchups, and the rest of the way, they’re facing losing teams like the Athletics, Mariners and Diamondbacks. There are just 16 Astros games left, and those chasing them might have squandered their best opportunity to pass them in the standings. A lot can change in these next few weeks, but we might look back on this week as the failure of the rest of the pack rather than of the Astros when they are up.
- Bryce Harper hit his 40th homer of the year, joining some elite and exclusive company. Harper currently has a 204 OPS+ on the season, giving him a chance to be the second player ever with at least a 200 OPS+ in his age-22 season. The other? Some dude named Ted Williams.
- Don Mattingly is waffling on whether Jimmy Rollins will get his job back from Corey Seager when he returns, but he shouldn't be.
- Francisco Lindor basically beat the Royals by himself, driving in four of the Indians' five runs on a 3-for-4 night that can only help his Rookie of the Year chances.
- Ian Kennedy might be improving his chances on the free agent market with his second half.
- Wednesday was the 40th anniversary of the worst Cubs' day ever, according to Al Yellon. It seems like it would be difficult to separate which one of the many bad North Side days is the worst of them, but hey, the Cubs are his thing.
- Jered Weaver was ejected after plunking Mariners' Kyle Seager, but only after Seager swore at Weaver for not respecting his timeout at the plate. That sounds like a future unwritten rules column to me, wink wink elbow elbow.
- The Pirates want to win the NL Central, but they're basically assured a playoff spot right now, and are also using this remaining time to rest their regulars for the postseason.
- "There Is No Such Thing As A Pitching Prospect," or TINSTAAP, served its purpose, but now it's a lazy way of answering questions that should be further explored.
- This minor league player spiked the baseball after making a game-ending catch in the first game of the International League finals.
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