Astros 2025: The Lost Weekend

For fans of Houston sports teams, this was a Debbie downer of a weekend.

The Texans fell to 0-3 and look a lot more like the 4-12 teams of the past than the division winner of the last two seasons.

The Astros? Well, the Astros went into what one pundit called the biggest series of the season and never competed.  Astros 2025: Dissecting the biggest series of the season – ALL THINGS ASTROS (Silly pundit).

I texted with my son, Adam yesterday about the Rockets starting training camp a week from Wednesday and playing their first pre-season game two weeks from today. The Astros are driving me to dis-interest.

As I said, the Astros were non-competitive this weekend. As Ed McMahon would shout out along with Johnny Carson’s audience, “How non-competitive were they?”

  • They never led anytime in the three games. Never.
  • They were only tied 0-0 for one inning, that was on Sunday which was the only game they kept the Mariners from scoring in the first inning. But then they let the M’s score 7 runs in the second inning.
  • Friday they never scored, losing 4-0. Saturday they were down 6-0 before Jeremy Pena’s grand slam in the 7th inning gave the fans false hope. Sunday they were down 7-0 in the second and scored three nicely separated runs the rest of the way.
  • Continuing a terrible on-going theme, the Astros were 2 for 20 with runners in scoring position for the weekend.
  • The baseball gods also had another laugh on the Astros as Pena, the player with the biggest hit for the Astros during the series on Saturday did not play on Sunday after suffering oblique soreness.

The Astros had more goats than heroes this series and by goats, I don’t mean greatest of all time.

Goats

  • The biggest one was Framber Valdez as he once again shed the “ace” title and also probably shed a few more million off that ever dwindling contract offer coming his way in the off-season. He gave up 5 runs and only went 4.2 innings this time.
  • It is a little unfair to label Jason Alexander a goat, since he has been so good since being put in the rotation, but the moment was too big for him as he gave up 7 runs in 1.1 inning on Sunday sealing the sweep for the Mariners.
  • Jake Meyers went 1 for 10 on the weekend and made a little league running mistake Saturday, snuffing out the last rally of the night for the Astros.
  • Christian Walker continued a recent swoon – going 1 for 8 with 5 Ks, no runs scored and no runs batted in.
  • Carlos Correa went 2 for 13 with no runs scored and no runs batted in.
  • Jesus Sanchez went 1 for 10 with 1 run scored on the weekend.

“Heroes” (OK no heroes when you get swept – but who did their job?)

  • Hunter Brown – 6 innings and 2 runs ended up in another undeserved loss.  The team has scored 2 or less runs in 12 of his 30 starts and he is 2-7 with a 1.69 ERA in those games.
  • Pena – Knocked in 4 of their 7 runs this weekend with a huge grand slam Saturday that did not quite spur a complete comeback.
  • The bullpen. They did give up a couple home runs on Friday night, but overall they pitched 15 innings and only gave up 3 runs.
  • A.J. Blubaugh – special kudos to him on his 3 innings of hitless ball on Sunday.

As things stand, there are 4 teams fighting it out for the three Wild Card spots. The Astros are tied with Cleveland and one game behind Boston. The Yankees seem to have the first WC sewn up unless they overtake the Blue Jays for the division. The Astros problem with Cleveland and Boston is that both those teams own the tiebreaker over the Astros.

So, what looked like a good situation going into the weekend, now looks desperate.

The Astros are playing two teams out of the running in the Athletics and Angels, but the way the Astros are playing does it matter?

Boston has a possibly tougher row to hoe as Toronto and Detroit will likely have something to play for.

Cleveland plays Detroit and Texas. Detroit will want those games badly, the Rangers? Not so much.

The Astros season is no longer in their hands, but their best route to the playoffs is to win them all.  

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24 responses to “Astros 2025: The Lost Weekend”

  1. Dan, nothing else I can really add. My typical early morning thoughts are all I’ve got from the weekend and you’ve got them already.

    But against two teams ready for vacation, I do hope there is a certain level of pride the Astros can muster this week.

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  2. The Astros are 4-2 against Detroit this year and trail them by one game in the standings. This means the Astros still control their own destiny. Between CLE and the Tigers there will be 3 losses split between them. Either one or both of those teams will have more than 72 losses after Thurs night. So, yeah, it doesn’t look good coming off that sweep by Seattle, but their performance against ANA and OAK will decide their fate.

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    • I guess I was looking at the Tigers as taking the division, but you are right, if they fall a bit here the Guardindians can charge past them and it will be us against the Tigers. But I think you’ve got the head to head backwards – the Tigers are 4-2 against us – not the other way around. They swept us in Detroit and then they took 1 of 3 here in Houston.

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      • Wow, thanks for the fact check. I wonder what series I was looking at, but you’re right we went 2-1 and then got swept. Ugh.

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      • No biggie – it is easy to do here as we are our own editors. No one called me on it but I mentioned Safeco Park in one of my recent posts, forgetting that it is now T-Mobile Park. Oh well.

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  4. The Space Cowboys won’t be in the AAA playoffs this year. I guess too many guys doing double duty to keep Astros hopes alive over the course of the season. Mostly pitching I guess, but also position player side.

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  5. I was really left stunned this weekend. I fully expected this team to show more fight in the batters box than I saw. I don’t want to be Captain Obvious here but they have done serious damage to their playoff chances. And to boot, they have lost any and all momentum, so even if someone else plays themselves out of it, and we get in, I would expect to lose that short 3 game series.

    Right now, they have to play game to game. Worry about today. Espada is going to have manage this Oakland series like his pants are on fire. If Abreu has to pitch 3 days in a row, so be it. Starters can’t be left in to give up 7 runs. If you have to pinch hit in the 5th inning for someone in a critical at bat, pull that trigger. No more business as usual.

    Game 1 of this Oakland series is a little concerning. Jeffrey Springs has been pretty good at times this year. His second half has been a little inconsistent. His home ERA is 5.00. I think we have a good opportunity for our right handed dominant lineup to go out there and do some damage.

    Javier is a spin pitcher. Spin doesn’t spin as a spinningly in Sacramento. The ball isn’t going to grip as well in the thinner air – my concern is his fastball not staying up in the top in the zone but creeping back down into danger area. Game 1 might end up a 8-5 win for someone.

    As for Framber, no one has been a bigger fan than me for 5+ years. But he isn’t getting another start this year if I’m Espada and Brown. I just can’t chance it. If you give him a start, and he gives up an early 3 spot with runners still on in the 3rd, you feel obligated to leave him out there to try and get out of it because he is Framber Valdez. I have no such obligation to Colton Gordon or a bullpen day.

    The crazy in me might just put Valdez on waivers right now. To me, it’s obvious he doesn’t want to be here. He tried “sending a message” to his own teammate. Julia isn’t talking about Framber dugout antics anymore. This team is heading towards a nasty divorce. He has been straight awful 7 starts in a row. I wouldn’t give him an 8th, but my guess is being the professionals they are, even if they agree with me in their heads they will say the right things in the media about how he is a pillar of their staff and if they are going to succeed they need him and blah blah blah.

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    • Steven, I watched the tape of Rome’s podcast on Friday morning with Josh Reddick and the discussion turned to Framber. Reddick made it clear he had no expectations of him in the Seattle series, and essentially stated that Framber had already checked out. Rome did not comment, but his own facial expression fully confirmed what Reddick had just said.

      It’s a terrible situation when any player bails on his team and mails it in. We all understand that Framber has problems, but until recently, it had never really taken a dark turn. I personally don’t think Valdez will get anywhere close to a 5 or 6 year deal from anyone. He’s a real risk at this point, regardless of how durable and effective he’s been for most of his career.

      And Espada’s pants might already be on fire. If the Astros don’t at least make a playoff appearance, even with the new MLB record for injuries in a season, we don’t know how Jim Crane might react. He moved on from James Click without hesitation.

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  6. And let me add, not making the playoffs wouldn’t be the worst thing.

    One – I don’t think they have the bats that can generate runs in low scoring, well pitched affairs. They would have to “out pitch” them and win a 2-1 game, and I don’t think we can do that with the walking wounded. The number of quality pitchers on this team that are lost for the year is astounding.

    Two – the last thing I would want is for the Yankees to play us, with homefield advantage, in a ALDS because somehow Hunter got us there. Yankee stadium would be ravenous, and our perfect playoff series record against the Yankees would likely come to an end. I just couldn’t live with that. I never want that given to Yankee fans ever in my lifetime.

    Three – I don’t want an additional 2 or 3 games put on Hunter Brown’s arm for a lost season. It’s the most important arm in the organization at this point. He needs to spend the offseason in cryo or at the very least not lifting his water bottle with his right arm.

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    • Yeah, I want to shout you down for being rationale here, but unfortunately agree. As an Astros fan I never want to wave the white flag. As a baseball fan I don’t want to see a team ravaged by injuries and running on fumes in the playoffs. If we care about the results we want every series to have the best matchups and intense games. However, if the Astros want to prove me wrong by coming out and walking over Oakland and Anaheim I won’t complain…

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  7. I don’t blame you Steven – there is a lot of “what does it matter” to the end of this particular season.

    I keep rolling back in my mind to 2020. The team had gone through a bunch of debilitating injuries. COVID had turned the season into something that just seemed off.

    And then somehow this team put together a good run in the playoffs. WC and ALDS wins and then fall down 3-0 in the ALCS before a rally that came within a couple runs of a WS.

    Can that happen again this year? Uh very very very unlikely.

    It is hard to let it go. But maybe it is time to go lick our wounds, rest our weary and hope for better health and results in 2026.

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    • I’ll wait until the season is over to “pile on” or give my unbiased opinion on next and coming seasons but on “Sports Map HOU” Branden, Charlie, and Josh already had some speculative comments about next year. I won’t give you the details but some were pretty interesting.

      I guess it’ll be a late night here in NC as I’ll try to stay up and watch tonight’s game. I hope that I won’t be disappointed.

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  8. I hope that Joe Espada remembers or is reminded that Mauricio Dubon went to high school in Sacramento. And that in the Astros 4 game series there earlier this year that he hit .467 BA/ .529 OBP/ 1.596 OPS with 3 doubles, 2 HRs, 2 walks, 4 runs, and 2 RBIs.

    Just sayin’

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  9. Good morning everyone. I admit to not watching the game last night. But the 8 minute and 16 second condensed game told me plenty just now. Our guys look like they are playing out the string at this point, even as they are still getting help from others. Heck, a win last night and they would have been in pretty good shape. I’m disappointed and a bit surprised at how my Astros have conducted themselves since sweeping the Rangers.

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  11. Here’s the deal. I just can’t write the postmortem until the corpse is dead. It is just not in my nature. Do I think the Astros are likely to make the playoffs at this point? No – especially with how they are playing. And certainly, if somehow, they squeeze into the playoffs they could well be one and done in the WC series. OK, two and done in a best of 3.

    Just know that there will be plenty of opportunity and many months to write about what was, what might have been and very importantly, what will be.

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    • Dan, yeah. I’ve got plenty to say, but I’m going to hold out. It’s still not quite over yet, although it looks more and more that the guys in uniform have already come to that conclusion. But I keep thinking there are more internal issues going on than we’ll probably ever know.

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  12. I had no interest in looking for highlights last night, but wanted to see what happened on the ball that was scored a single to SS in LF that scored a run. I think Pena gets to that ball. Again, sometimes luck isn’t in your favor. What was really depressing was seeing the one Javier dropped. First of all, only in travel ball or little league would they let pitchers field those. His job was to sprint to home plate. Our gold glove winning 1B kind of sauntered in and watched him drop it. If we’re going to give Espada credit for all the lineups and such, we need to also ask whether he tore into those guys after the game? The Framber meltdowns are likely not coming back next year for us, but the other guys shouldn’t be making plays like this!

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  13. You’re right Dan but it doesn’t look good. What’s frustrating is how well they faced all of the adversity in the first half of the season only to drive off the cliff the second half.

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