Despite winning a club record 103 wins in 2018, the Astros have left their fans wanting more from them. By the Pythagorean formula for wins, the team should have won something more like 109 wins based on their huge 263 run differential for the season. Though they were a marvelous 37-8 in blowouts (games decided by 5+ runs), they were a non-Champion 24-24 in one-run games. Though they were a wonderful 57-24 on the road, one of the best records in decades, they were a just above average 46-35 at home (which was a really blah 35-32 heading into September).

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The week of 10-1 through 10-7 in review
The Astros only played two games this week and they played them brilliantly, getting out of the gate with a super solid “play from ahead” 7-2 win on Friday afternoon and following it up with a tough come from behind 3-1 win on Saturday to take a 2-0 lead in their best of five series with the Cleveland Indians. They got great pitching, timely hitting and did not boot the ball around in either game.

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The ALDS matchup that will be getting national attention is the Red Sox – Yankees media darling series, where the East Coast bias wishes they could meet again in the ALCS and the World Series. But there is another ALDS matchup occurring outside prime time that is likely a closer match than the two team’s records (Astros 103-59 / Indians 91-71) would indicate.

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The week of 9-24 through 9-30 in review

The Astros had a 4.5 game lead and their magic number to clinch the division was 3 to begin the week.

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Free Blog Weekend is a Chipalatta tradition. Basically you can blog about whatever you want relative to the 2018 Astros.

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If you told an Astros fan before the season that the Astros would be the AL West Champs they might have yawned at you and said “But of course”. If you told them they were in for a tough struggle and would only pull it out in the last week of the season their interest might be piqued by the tale. And if you told them the Oakland A’s were their closest challengers and outplayed the Astros for more than 1/2 the season they might have gone “Huh?”

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The week of 9-17 through 9-23 in review

The Astros began the week with a solid 4.5 game lead over the unbelievably hot A’s. The Astros started the week in a wobbly fashion losing 2 out of 3 to the Mariners at home. But they cranked things up with a 3 game sweep of the Angels. If they do clinch this division – the 9 run rally that turned a 5-1 loss to a 10-5 win on Saturday against the Halos may be the game that kicked them over the top. The A’s came so close to cutting the lead to 2 1/2 games, but by the end of the week, the lead was jacked back up to 4.5 games and the magic number to clinch the division was down to three.

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It’s kind of unfair. Fans wait forever – up to 56 seasons (depending on our age and when we began cheering for them) for their Houston Astros to win a World Championship and then after they do, in a blink of an eye, the celebration is over and the angst over the next season returns. Is this why Yankee fans are sometimes the most miserable human beings on the planet. The 27 championships are in the rear view mirror and here they are in misery because their team falls short of the apex. Nine-year drought! OMG!!!

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