Astros 2026: By the numbers

As the Astros begin a critical series out west in San Diego, this blogger has come to a decision.  In this very tight race to the playoffs, all series are critical, so we will not be using that adjective anymore.

Today, we would like to visit some individual and team numbers at this point in the season for the Astros.

8 – The number of categories that Yordan Alvarez leads the majors in at this juncture. That includes HRs, BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, OPS+, Total Bases and Intentional walks.

4 – The number of additional categories that Yordan leads the AL in – Hits, runs, RBIs and WAR.

540 – The Astros are currently 2nd in the AL in runs scored with 540

.246/.322/.738 – In the slash categories the team is hitting – .246 BA is 3rd in the AL/.322 OBP is 2nd and .738 OPS is 1st

14 – The Astros’ starting pitching has a 5.10 ERA which is 14 out of 15 in the AL

15 – The Astros starters are worst (15th) in the AL in allowing walks (284). This is especially bad considering the Astros are 11th in number of innings pitched.

36 – The Astros starting pitching has won 36 games – 4th most in the AL (Riding that offense)

9 – The Astros reliever’s with a 4.03 ERA is 9th in the AL

15 – Josh Hader’s 15 saves are tied for 8th in the AL despite missing the first 2 months of the season

11 – Peter Lambert is tied for 11th in the AL with 8 wins (best of the Astros) though only 4 pitchers ahead of him have posted better than his 3.06 ERA.

2 – The Astros are 2nd in home runs in the AL with 157. In 2025 they were 10th in the AL with 182 home runs for the whole season. Can you say – healthy Yordan?

7 – The Astros have 7 pitchers with 4 wins or more. Only one (Lambert) is in the current starting rotation. Mike Burrows is on the IL. Kai-Wei Teng is in the minors. Tatsuya Imai has been moved to the bullpen. Steven Okert and A.J. Blubaugh are relievers. Spencer Arrighetti was traded to the Blue Jays.

4 – The number of walks Daulton Varsho has drawn in 3 games with the Astros resulting in a .429 OBP.

1.5 – The Astros lead in the division with 46 games to go.

Are there any numbers you would like to highlight with the Astros at this point?

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23 responses to “Astros 2026: By the numbers”

    • Simon – I am really sorry – there is nothing I can do relative to Word press – I will talk to Chip about whether there is a better platform out there.

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  2. Most surprising – 2nd runs and 14th in ERA. Usually a recipe for disaster. I’m sure splits are widely inconsistent in games wins versus losses as a matter of result, but I bet the Astros 2026 is wildly split. Wouldn’t surprise me that number is well over 6 in losses and well under 4 in wins. When they’ve pitched well, its been well. When the wheels came off a starter in 2026 its been spectacularly bad.

    We could make up 25 other stats and Yordan would lead those too.

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  3. Steven – my quick manual count (which might be off here or there) shows the following:

    In 59 wins

    • Astros score an average of 6.61 runs and allow an average of 3.01 runs

    In 57 losses

    • Astros score an average of 2.84 runs and allow an average of 6.79 runs

    So quite a robust split both sides of the diamond.

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  5. We’d be lost without Yordan. If he’s not MVP, he’s at least “Most Needed Player”. For the Astros to have a chance, he’s got to remain healthy through September.

    Those team pitching stats continue to give me pause. Of course I am the most dubious guy here. Without better sustained starting pitching especially, we won’t be running away with anything, although it remains entirely possible the winner of the West goes 81-81.

    Altuve’s OPS by month:

    April .742

    May .626

    June .639

    July .663

    He’s put together an 1.100 OPS in brief August play. Could he be awakening when he’s most needed?

    Bryan Abreu had an 0.818 WHIP in July. We should find out pretty quick if he’s back to being the old Bryan Abreu.

    Imai gave up a .988 OPS in July. His WHIP was 2.400. He walked 15 and struck out 14. I have no idea if those stats from him ( and his single August appearance) mean anything going forward. The dubiousness in me thinks he’ll freak out again soon.

    I have not had a posting problem in quite awhile. I wish I knew why though. I’d share. I have felt the same frustration and I want to be able to read the stuff others try to post. Simon I’ve missed hearing from you. And Z, I had no idea that other human was you. Interesting username.

    The Red Sox deserve a mention. They’re 26-3 while running off a 15 game streak and an 8 gamer. Last nights 13 inning game kept we watching for more than four hours. At 4:23, it is the longest game of the season.

    I think we’re going to need some runs off Robbie Ray tonight.

    Is Jake coming back tonight?

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  6. So Jake is back. Back in spite of not hitting in Sugar Land either. Really, Dana Brown has failed most miserably in his almost four seasons with the Astros by not at any point being able to produce an outfield offense that could/can hit the baseball.

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  7. Spoke too soon. Lost yesterday evening comments in a flurry of WordPress chaos! I have no idea why it gets its knickers in a twist sometimes …

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  8. just finished watching the condensed game. Looked good from what I saw. Let’s keep it up. The “Strangers” are right on our tail.

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  9. Jake had two hits last night, although one was a bit of a gift, but they all look the same on the back of a baseball card. I’m just not sure why they brought him back in with that .599 MLB OPS and that .670 something MiLB OPS. And Baseball Savant has Jake’s sprint speed down to 66 percentile right now, with almost middle of the road defensive stats, certainly not what he’s shown us in the past. I would have brought in Biggio at this point, or even CJ Alexander, hoping for a brief spark. I think we already know what to expect from Meyers.

    Christian Walker has a .778 OPS. That’s third bast on the club. He’s pretty much on pace towards 30 dingers. That 117 OPS+ is above his career average. He’s an essential part of the offense if he’s hitting for us down the stretch.

    Cam has 15 homers. 11 on the road, 4 at home. How about 20 from him this year? He’s hit well away from AC Park, badly at home. And that’s a complete reversal from last year. One thing he’s getting better at is elevating the ball. Maybe we’re starting to see the beginnings of a successful power hitter.

    13 sometimes tough outs from the pen. First time in a while I’ve seen Abreu strikeout a guy on three 98 heaters.

    Blanco went 4.2 for the third time in four starts since back. He looks close to being what we need him to be. I’m encouraged.

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  10. Thoughts

    It is strange you trade for a guy who is a Gold Glove CF in Varsho (maybe not that good this year) and then bring up Meyers who only plays CF

    Very encouraged with Cam since he supposedly adjusted something- 2 important homers last night

    Which they needed because now Peña who was red hot is slumping

    Last night a play you rarely see happened for both teams – hitter bounds one that is probably not going to be a DP unless they tag the runner and throw – baserunner stops – so they throw the hitter out at first and then throw and tag the runner out – but the delay allows the runner on third to score before the tag/ third out.

    Blanco did OK but they really need 5+ innings out of starters – not a big thing right now with days off

    The Astros played more games than anybody else the first half of the season but having more days off second half is helping this team

    Abreu looks back – is it just having Hader back that has made the difference?

    It is good having Walker warm up lately – it is a key with the teams pitching around Yordan so much

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    • Abreu never looked comfortable as a closer. I think he’s happy to be back in his familiar role. But what escapes me is how he lost so much velocity over the winter. Was he back home in the wrong gym with the wrong trainer?

      I suspect he’ll be back next year.

      And if the Larnach situation was reported accurately, I have no issue. We already have a DH and that’s where the guy belongs.

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  11. Hey Y’all, been out of the country at sea for a week. Did Crane actually nix a trade of Bryan Abreu going away??? If he did, then he is an idiot for, once again, allowing a decent player to leave in free agency and get nothing in return.

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  13. Morning weekenders. Sarge, where have you been sailing at sea?

    Lambert was trying to be careful last night against a good team.

    A couple of our best defensive guys cost us runs.

    We did not hit.

    That was quite a play in the ninth by France and Miller.

    We almost tied it up.

    Got to play clean games this time of year.

    Reptil and Imai tonight?

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    • Hi Dave, we went to the western Caribbean. Costa Maya, Belize, Cozumel. Thanks for asking!! We were trying to gain a certain level of loyalty with a certain cruise line and reached that goal. That made 33 cruises for me since 1999. I was asleep by the 6th inning of the game last night and did not see the end.

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      • Morning. Sarge, I spent a pretty good amount of time down in Cozumel during the 70’s. The cruise ships were just starting to show up back then. I hope they give you a pretty good upgrade for all those 33 trips!

        San Diego looked like a better team overall this weekend. And then Austin Hays, mentioned as someone the Astros might be after, rubbed it in by taking his first at bat as a Padre out of the park against our guys.

        If Yordan is going to hang on and win a Triple Crown, Pena and Paredes and whomever Joe puts in the fourth slot are all going to have to start hitting again. That might result in some wins too.

        Time to regroup. Our guys have not looked very impressive since the trade deadline.

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  14. I was really excited by that Varsho HR. He kept fouling off hittable fastballs over the plate. I decided he had to be looking for the offspeed pitch and wasn’t going to make an out on anything else. Sure enough, he gets a hanging slider and jumped on it. The other at bats weren’t as good, but the whole offense looked bad yesterday.

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  15. Thoughts

    • After playing a good game Friday and winning, a pretty good game on Saturday and losing and a not very good game on Sunday and losing – the Astros good times momentum is over.
    • Down to 1/2 game lead in the division and 1 game in the wild card
    • Only 2 hits yesterday including Varsho’s first homer with the Astros. You are not going to win with no hits from Pena, Yordan, Altuve, Walker, Diaz and Wade Jr.
    • The Padres scored all 7 runs on their 4 home runs.
    • Javier pitched ok except for the 2 home runs, which sounds like what we say about Blanco every time out. Pena having to throw that off balanced two hopper to Walker that was a smidgen late felt like it was going to hurt us (no blame on Pena, it was a very tough play) and sure enough Tatis launched one to flip the game
    • Where oh where did Bryan King go? He is just a run allowing machine now.

    They have to go do something positive in San Francico.

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