At the start of the season, the Astros struggled with injury after injury, and the pitching staff especially took a hit. Spencer Arrighetti, who was recently traded to the Blue Jays for Daulton Varsho, was named the AL's Pitcher of the Month in May, but he wasn't the same when June rolled around.
They also lost Carlos Correa early on, and until a few weeks ago, it looked like he might be out for the entire season. Peña missed real time too, over a month with a hamstring strain in the spring, then another IL stint in late June with a calf strain. With only a few players left, the Astros were barely holding on, but now that almost everyone is back, they are a completely different team.
After falling to a season-low 11 games under .500 following a May 14 loss to Seattle, Houston started making their way back. They won 2 of 3 against Texas right after, then took 7 of 10 on a road trip. It was a slow, grinding climb back toward .500 through May and June, no big streak, just steady progress. Two steps forward, one step back kind of season.
Then came a real setback. Houston got swept by the Orioles right after the All-Star break, falling back to 7 games under .500 and undoing a lot of progress. From there, it looked like they weren't going to get back on the upswing.
But they answered immediately, with an 11-1 run, their best stretch in a full calendar year. That run changed everything and sent them past both Seattle and Texas and into first place in the AL West.
Now that the injury list is shrinking, the Astros seem to have found their rhythm, and they found it when it mattered most. They fell off a little in their series against the Padres, but bounced back with a series win against the Giants during their West Coast trip. Now they head into this series against the Mariners with momentum and a solid pitching plan.
The Astros are heading home from a series win and into a special moment this weekend. Daikin Park is also honoring Alan Ashby and the late Phil Garner into the Astros Hall of Fame this weekend, adding some occasion to the series.
Aside from this season being a pretty impressive comeback, it would be a shame to have a player like Yordan Alvarez miss out on the playoffs two seasons in a row after the season he's had. Through all of the rough patches, Alvarez has been crushing at the plate all season.
Houston sits at 62-60 today, in first place, and this weekend against a fading Mariners team is the next real test of whether this turnaround is going to propel them into the playoffs.