Josh Reddick Robbed The Shit Out Of A Jason Kipnis Home Run
The fuckin’ Astros, man. Out of all the teams in baseball that were picked to be atop their division, the Astros might be the only team that’s lived up to the hype thus far. The Red Sox are in third place, the Indians are 10-9, the Cubs have been better lately but got off to a meh start, and the Dodgers and Giants are both under .500. I’ll give you the Nationals in the NL East, but the Mets have been a disaster to start the year.
Out of all the popular picks in each division, the Nationals and the Astros are the only teams that have performed at a level that you’d expect, both 14-6, the best records in the majors. And if you haven’t been following the Astros this season, then this answer might surprise you — who do you think their top offensive performer has been?
It’s not Carlos Correa, and it’s not Carlos Beltran, either. Evan Gattis has gotten off to a solid start, Jose Altuve is doin’ the damn thing again, and Yulieski Gurriel has gotten off to a strong start, too. Houston has also gotten a surprisingly great start from Nori Aoki, who leads the team in both batting average (.364) and OPS (.885). But one of the biggest reasons for the Astros’ success this year has been the resurgence of Dallas Keuchel.
I wrote earlier this year that the Astros made some key moves by adding a handful of veterans to a young nucleus, but none of that would matter if Keuchel couldn’t return to his 2015 Cy Young form. That’s exactly what he’s done through the first five starts of the season. The Astros are 4-1 when Keuchel has taken the mound this year, and their one loss came in a start when he allowed just one earned run and two hits over seven innings against the Royals. Keuchel has been nails in April, and he was nails again last night against the Indians in a complete game effort against the defending American League champs in Cleveland.
And that brings me back to my main point about Keuchel’s importance to this team from before the season started. The left-hander is off to a 4-0 start with a 1.22 ERA, but Astros starters not named Dallas Keuchel have a combined ERA of 4.65. I think it’s unfair to lump Lance McCullers in with that group, because he’s been pretty good in his own right, but it’s hard to recognize that when you’re on the same staff with Keuchel, given what he’s doing.
So, let me rephrase that — Astros starters not named Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers have an ERA of 5.18 this year. Houston’s been a middle of the pack team so far in terms of scoring runs and I expect some guys in that lineup to pick up the pace as the season goes on, so for a team that has the best record in baseball right now, it’s scary to think that they could actually be even better. And they will be better. Buy in on the Astros.