I am in a bit of a difficult funk today. One of my friends from the choir, in his mid-70s, went to Costco yesterday. He collapsed for some reason, landed face-first on the concrete floor, had a brain bleed, and the doctors don’t expect him to survive. This highlights the day-to-day importance of our lives and leaves me quite distracted at the moment.
Based on this, I’ve made a decision for my short-term mental health. On the writing side of this blog, we will concentrate on this 2026 team and how they are progressing (or not progressing) towards the playoffs this last week of the season. This blog will not be concentrating on the mess the team has going forward after the season. No Crane interference. No Bagwell shadow. No Joe Espada future. No trades, free agent decisions, prospect promotions.
So, where are the Astros sitting on September 23, 2026?
The Astros and Rangers are tied for first place in the AL West at 78-79. Due to the tiebreaker that means if the playoffs started today the Astros are the champs and the Rangers are the chumps.
The wild card aspirations of either team are poor, as they are trailing the White Sox by three games for the last WC spot. Similarly, they are trailing Cleveland by four games for the second seed in the AL. With five games to go, both wild card and second seed are mathematically possible but highly unlikely.
The two teams’ best pathway to the playoffs is winning the West. Period.
On Tuesday, the two teams’ paths may have diverged (though this could be totally different by Wednesday).
The Rangers were leading the Mets 3-2, when they brought in normal starter Nathan Eovaldi for a relief stint. Three runs later they were trailing 5-3 and went on to lose 6-3.
The Astros, famously, held a team-only meeting called by the normally quiet Yordan Alvarez. Alvarez reminds one of Gary Cooper or John Wayne, an epic larger-than-life hero of few words. He is the Astros best player but frankly may have been wilting under the pressure of Triple Crown and MVP expectations.
Whatever, Yordan said, may not have been as important as what he did. He knocked in the Astros’ first run in the first inning and then blasted a two-run homer for their last runs in a 7-0 beating of the Mariners. He also drew an intentional walk and came close to a homer in the sixth inning on a laser shot to the wall.
The biggest hit of the night might have been the three run homer by cold as ice first baseman Christian Walker to give the team a 4-0 lead. More of that would certainly be welcomed.
Losing Cristian Javier to groin discomfort may hurt the team when they are looking for starters next weekend at the Sacramento band box. Of greater importance was Jeremy Pena getting plunked by a pitch, leaving the game, but getting good news from the X-rays.
But right not we are living day to day.
As we have seen so far, this roller-coaster of a snail’s-pace playoff race may change five times in the next five days unless one of the teams goes on a roll.
By this time tomorrow our feelings may be totally different about this team and this race. But for today, we are OK.
2 responses to “Day to Day”
I’m sorry to hear about your friend. As they say, old age is not for cowards. Concerning the Astros, they are a huge tease. I give up on them and then they pull me back with hope. They remind of this girl I dated in college. She was beautiful, but very protective of her charms. She would call the next day and say that if I had stayed just a little longer. That’s our Astros
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Dan, I’m terribly sorry. On this little island I’ve chosen to live on, I know most everyone, at least those aging like I am. People keep leaving us.
I just left a post on the last page, and I followed your suggestion without knowing it at the time. Positive, for me anyway. And no mention of anything beyond Sunday. Basically one game at a time. If you’d like to move it over this way, it would save me from writing another similar post.
Stay well.
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