Astros on a streak, Rangers listless in AL West
José Altuve led the Astros on a 14-run tear as Houston’s hot streak continues and Texas looks like a team adrift in the final weeks of the season.
The Texas Rangers have led the AL West for the entire season. From early May until the end of August, the road to the World Series, so it seemed, must surely pass through Arlington.
Not so fast, said the Astros faithful. Although languishing at times up to six games adrift, Houston is the arbiter of championship gold, they maintained. And it would appear, frustratingly for Rangers fans, that they were correct.
What separates pretenders from champions, challengers from dynasties is what is referred to in boxing as the championship rounds. Anyone can have a great rounds one through nine. But can you maintain the pace, and take the punishment, of rounds ten, eleven, and twelve. Those are the rounds that tell, the ones that betray you.
Houston, with all of their baggage, are a championship team. They may wax and wane, but come September, they know how to push through the championship rounds.
The Rangers have been outstanding all season. Their hitting has been revelatory, with Jonah Heim in the middle of a breakout year and Nathan Eovaldi showing just why he is paid such a hefty fee on the mound.
Houston, on the other hand, have been mundane. Winning juuuuust enough to keep them in the hunt, but not enough to convince you that they were still contenders. Often they floundered behind Seattle and even the hapless Angels. But just as the Astros were hitting their late-season stride, Texas entered a state of extended ennui.
As if to punctuate that point, the Astros, who now sit atop the division, two full games ahead of Texas, posted 14 runs on the flailing Rangers in a humiliating 14-1 home loss on Tuesday. This follows a comprehensive 13-6 drumming on Monday.
In Tuesday’s game, José Altuve became just the fourth player in MLB history to hit three home runs in the first three innings of the game. The first two came off of Eovaldi who was making his return from the IL, while the third one came off Dane Dunning.
Altuve’s blasts were joined by two from Martín Maldonado and another from Yordan Álvarez. As expected and predicted in Houston, the Astros are firing on all cylinders in September. Texas, however, are in dire need of a spark if they want to cap of their effervescent season with something other than a damp squib.
On Wednesday, they will try to avoid being swept by Houston, but the danger doesn’t stop there. Over the next fortnight, they have to face the Blue Jays, Guardians, and Mariners twice. Dangerous waters they are currently navigating.