After dropping their Saturday contest to the Seattle Mariners, the Houston Astros will look to take the series from the M’s on Sunday Night Baseball. Houston currently has a 63-61 record and is two games ahead of the Texas Rangers for first place in the AL West.
Before the series finale, the Astros announced a fairly surprising decision regarding Yordan Alvarez.
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Yordan Alvarez in LF on Sunday
GettyHOUSTON, TEXAS – AUGUST 14: Yordan Alvarez #44 of the Houston Astros singles during the fourth inning against the Seattle Mariners at Daikin Park on August 14, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
Yordan Alvarez is getting a VERY rare start in left field for the series finale against the Seattle Mariners.
Alvarez does not play great defense, and for the past few seasons, he’s exclusively been moved to the designated hitter role for the Astros.
Here is the full Houston Astros batting order for 8/16:
Astros 8/16: “J. Peña SS Y. Alvarez LF I. Paredes 3B J. Altuve DH D. Varsho CF C. Walker 1B L. Wade Jr. RF Y. Diaz C N. Allen 2B H. Brown SP”
Astros 8/16
J. Peña SSY. Alvarez LFI. Paredes 3BJ. Altuve DHD. Varsho CFC. Walker 1BL. Wade Jr. RFY. Diaz CN. Allen 2B
H. Brown SP
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) August 16, 2026
There aren’t many changes to the Houston lineup, but the reason that Yordan is out in left field is that Jose Altuve is back in the order, but he’s the DH today, which puts Nick Allen at second base.
Yordan is considered the frontrunner to win AL MVP with the monster offensive season he’s had thus far.
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