The MLB season has now gone past the halfway point. It seems like the Houston Astros may have just turned their season around in time to stay competitive. The division is not even the real problem, given that the Astros, with a 42-45 record, are just two games back and 1 1/2 games out of Wild Card position.
While the Astros started off this favorable stretch against the Los Angeles Angels, Kansas City Royals, and Detroit Tigers with just a 5-4 record, the team started to get hotter and string more wins together. The Astros have won five straight series, including the one against the Royals, since June 12. Houston has gone 11-5 during the stretch till June 28. The Astros even got into the final Wild Card spot at one point, while moving up in the AL West standings. Even though the team continues to get healthier, there are still some issues. Here are the two areas where the Astros must maintain their recent strength.
Two Areas Where The Astros Must Keep Up Their Success
Reliable Starting Pitching
This is obvious for any team’s success, and it really made a difference for the Astros. Once the pieces in the rotation got consistent and deep into games, the wins started piling up. The return of Astros ace Hunter Brown has helped a lot, but he will need support. Kai-Wei Teng severely struggled in June with a 7.77 ERA and has since been optioned to Triple-A.
Tatsuya Imai had greatly improved over his last four starts until June 12, but completely imploded against the Kansas City Royals and could only get through 2/3 of an inning with five earned runs. He has bounced back again with back-to-back quality starts of six innings each.
He gave up just two hits and no runs while striking out 10 and had 11 strikeouts and no walks against the Cleveland Guardians prior to that. Imai’s return to form, the best he’s looked so far, is crucial to maintaining the rotation. Spencer Arrighetti has dramatically cooled off since his incredible start to the season and has a 9.00 ERA in five June starts. He recently gave up eight runs in three innings. He must improve.
Peter Lambert, with his early success, has been the only steady one almost the entire season. Mike Burrows has returned to the rotation, and he also must step up. He was the weakest link, but his last performance of six innings of one-run ball was encouraging. Cristian Javier is about to come back. Additionally, it greatly helps the Astros’ bullpen, which now has Josh Hader in it. The amount of stress the bullpen arms have taken is not sustainable. The group was the best in baseball since May in most of the important categories, but the workload may take a toll later on.
Contributors on Offense
The Astros’ offense started out great this season, but went into a slump. It then broke out again, starting with the series against the Chicago Cubs, but inconsistency has plagued them. Some days, the offense is practically unstoppable, but other days they can’t even score a run.
They are unpredictable, and the issue has been the other hitters in the lineup not named Yordan Alvarez or Christian Walker. That duo has been among the best in the American League, while Alvarez is currently one of the MVP favorites. He’s also in the running for the Triple Crown. Alvarez has been incredible as arguably the best hitter in baseball, while Walker is fifth in the AL in RBI.
Yordan Alvarez go-ahead GRAND SLAM 🚀 pic.twitter.com/s1H9lG68bs
— MLB (@MLB) July 1, 2026
The Astros need to give Alvarez and Walker much more help. Jeremy Peña has been the sparkplug at the top of the order, and he was on fire after coming back from the injured list. His impact is much needed for this offense. He’s done well but is now on the 10-day IL.
Veteran catcher Christian Vázquez has also been reliable for the most part. Third baseman Isaac Paredes has also underperformed for large portions of the year, but it looks like he might turn the corner as well. When Paredes is hitting, the Astros are so much better. He’s come up with plenty of clutch hits in the last series win over the Tigers.
Jose Altuve has just come back from injury, and he’s already chipped in with a couple of homers. The Astros will need more out of him as well. If some of the outfielders, such as Cam Smith or Jake Meyers, can get going, the lineup will feel much more complete.
The talent is there; it’s a matter of getting consistency back. That’s the hardest thing about baseball, but the Astros will see plenty of series wins if these two areas continue to stay strong.
Main Photo Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
