The Launch Angle

Talk about a boo-worthy performance.

Everything that could go wrong for the Astros basically did. Hunter Brown lasted only 0.2 innings, allowing four earned runs before loading the bases with two outs. Why? A combination of ineffectiveness and poor defense. Remember when the fundamentals was a thing in Spring Training? That said, AJ Blubaugh and Peter Lambert somehow kept the game within reach through five innings. Although a trio of solo home runs in the first four innings eventually cut the deficit to 4-3, Bryan Abreu relieved Lambert and promptly allowed a three-run home run to Chase Meidroth in the sixth, making it 7-3. That was ultimately the dagger for the game and for Houston’s season. A fitting conclusion.

By the way, that’s now nine consecutive postseason home losses for the Astros. At least Jose Altuve got his 28th career postseason home run, now trailing the first-place Manny Ramírez by one home run.

Whether Altuve gets another opportunity in the postseason is the real debate now.

Honestly, that’s about all I had in me for recapping this one game. I can’t recall the last time that this team looked so dreadful. Even the 2020 shortened season didn’t have these kinds of poor vibes permeating throughout. But this organization is at a crossroads. We all knew this day would eventually arrive, even dating back to last year when the Astros missed the postseason for the first time since 2016. Dana Brown was fired several weeks ago, and Joe Espada is likely on his way out. The offseason will be dominated by the search for a new general manager and field manager, with the CBA negotiations serving as a backdrop for the sport. Whether anything meaningful changes is another matter.

We can officially close the book on the 2026 Astros. I don’t think too many of us would classify this season as a fun one. There were moments of excitment, yes. Yordan Alvarez provided the majority of those. He’s the presumptive AL MVP at this point, barring something unexpected. But this year’s team was the worst of the bunch since 2014. They won the AL West mostly due to how poorly the rest of the division played. Let’s hope this prompts some serious soul-searching about the long direction of the franchise and for the better.

I wanted to take this moment to thank you, our readers, for supporting TLA in numerous ways. It was our inaugural season, and we certainly picked a doozy of one to start a new site. But we also had a lot of fun building it and learned plenty along the way, whether here on the site or in the Discord channel. We greatly value your presence and opinions. Here’s to more fruitful seasons with hopefully better results following sooner rather than later.

To close out this recap, I’d also like to express my gratitude to all of the writers who contributed this season to TLA (Hatter, Bill, Seth, Clack, Theo, Kevin, MCN, Exile, l4blitzer, Scott, Satior, and Daniel). It was a blast writing with everyone again, even if we all wished the season turned out differently. And if this site had its own MVP award, I’d like to nominate Hatter. I am serious when I say he is our Yordan, playing a major role in building this site and Discord channel. His previews and other posts were fantastic as always. I particularly enjoyed reading about his experience in Japan and the Tokyo Dome. Again, a massive thanks to him for helping drive this site in its first year. I couldn’t have survived it without him.

Feature photo from Astros on X