If the Astros offense remains as bad as it has been for the last two weeks, the team will not make the playoffs. Bank it.
The Astros offense has been carried most of the season by the 1-2 punch of leadoff hitter Jeremy Pena and #2 and Triple Crown candidate Yordan Alvarez. Tonight they were 0-8 in a 3-1 loss, which tracks with their performances since August 3. Let’s look:
Alvarez slash line: .233/.370/.326. ISO .093, wRC+ 97 (before tonight)
Pena slash line: .118/.182/.216. ISO .098, wRC+ 09 (before tonight)
As a team, the Astros only managed three hits and only one off rookie Angels starter George Klassen
For the second straight game, the Astros pitching staff held the opposition to three runs, and the team still lost. And to make the sting even worse, tonight the Angels scored all three of their runs after two outs and with nobody on base.
Off Astros starter Cristian Javier, the Angels got off to a 1-0 lead in the third inning after a Wade Meckler single, a stolen base, and a Nolan Schanuel single.
In the fourth, Josh Lowe hit a solo homer, another Crawford Box Special for the other team, and in the fifth, Schanuel singled off Enyal De Los Santos and scored on a double by Zack Neto off Bryan King.
The Astros avoided total offensive ignominy thanks to a Cam Smith solo homer in the eighth inning.
Cristian Javier survived four innings, allowing two runs on five hits, one walk, striking out five.
Since August 3rd, corresponding to the slumps by the ostensible offensive spark plugs, the Astros have compiled a 5-7 record, and in the last 14 days the team’s wRC+ is 86, 21st in MLB. This was their third straight loss at home to below .500 teams.
We can’t continue to ignore the offensive futility of every-day center fielder Daulton Varsho, who, since being acquired on August 4th, is slashing .125/.222/.200, wRC+ 23.
Let’s go back to Alvarez. In my last post, I wondered, as many of us do, whether he is being hindered by the same nagging hand injury that derailed his 2025 season. Before going on the IL in 2025, here’s Alvarez’s slash line:
.210/.306/.340, wRC+ 75
If you discount the .370 OBP in 2026 (due, no doubt, to the fear his reputation has generated this year), Alvarez’s numbers for the last two weeks are eerily similar.
Besides his o-fer, Alvarez struck out as the tying run in the eighth after a 3-0 count, swinging at a pitch way out of the zone, and watching strike three.
It’s hard to believe, but the Astros still retain a one-game lead for first place in the AL West over the Rangers with a 63-63 W-L record, but with an expected W-L of 60-66.
If the Astros win the division, they might be the worst division champions in history.
For Espada, the offensive numbers are not related to the batting order. Maybe it’s a secret algorithm where the uniform number is factored in.