Houston must take advantage of opportunity after settling business against Seattle

Even though it was just a series in July, it’s no exaggeration to say that the game between the Houston Astros and Mariners last weekend was crucial. The Astros have clearly played very well over the last month and a half, and the division-leading Mariners have been in a tailspin. Momentum really matters in baseball, and a Houston win over Seattle would be huge for the Astros’ chances in the AL West.

Fortunately, the Astros largely accomplished their mission, winning the series against the Mariners, but they now have to take advantage of the opportunity presented to them given their upcoming schedule.

As of Monday, the Astros are tied with Seattle for the lead in the American League West. While that’s great news considering Houston’s dire situation in late May, the fact that the Mariners managed to win a game in last weekend’s series makes it difficult to secure a tiebreaker with Seattle at the end of the season. That means Houston simply has to distance itself from the rest of the division when the schedule presents opportunities for that to happen.

Over the next few weeks, the Astros will play series against very easy teams to beat, including the struggling division rivals the Athletics, Pirates and Rangers. It seems very likely that Seattle wins all of these series, and that would help a lot, as Seattle has tough series against the Red Sox and Phillies in early August after a couple of easy series in late July.

The only obstacle for Houston might be their series against the Dodgers on July 26-28. Obviously, LA is an extremely talented and dangerous team and they have a guy named Shohei Ohtani in their lineup who you may have heard of, but the series is at home and the Dodgers are also dealing with their own injuries in their rotation. If the Astros are going to play LA, doing so when they don’t have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Mookie Betts and others is a good time to do it.

In an ideal world, the Astros could bring Kyle Tucker back from injury to help the cause. However, that doesn’t seem very likely, as the team is being very cautious with his rehab at the moment. Still, these next two weeks seem like a great opportunity for Houston to make a splash, even if they’re not at full strength.

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