Houston Astros: Rising in the rankings

The Houston Astros Are Moving on Up the Rankings.

The Astros are back people, and better than ever. There is little doubt in my mind that the 2016 squad is superior to that of last season. Who would’ve imagined you would ever hear someone say that with the way they started? Well, guys, it’s true, and they have more reinforcement coming quickly.

April is gone, and this is an entirely new team these days. Not only are they playing with confidence, but their talent is shining through. The talent that we all knew they had back in April was hiding behind mental mistakes, predominantly made on the base paths.

Houston has caught fire the last 31 games, which has placed them right in the thick of the things in the Wild Card race. The division isn’t a lost cause, however at this point of the season, if you were to look for playoff hopes, you can definitely find it in the Wild Card chase.

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It’s nice to see, however, that it’s not only us Astros fans are the ones with renewed hope. Fangraphs has the Astros down as a near 50% chance to make it into October. A percentage that was struggling to stay in the teens merely a month ago.

The big names believe in us as well. Mark DeRosa has yet to waiver on the Astros as his World Series pick he made pre-season, and the rest of ESPN and MLB.com has the Astros climbing in the standings as if it were the AL West.

A simple look at the MLB.com Power Rankings shows the respect people are giving to Houston these days. Houston has shot up their rankings eight spots in seven days to find their way into the top 10, surpassing teams such as the Marlins, Mets, and Dodgers, all who have better records than the Astros.

Even the world wide leader is giving up credit, ESPN’s Power Rankings have the Astros just outside of the top 10 at #11. Both sites have Houston making the biggest leaps of any team the last week.

Pre-Season expectations were sky high, you couldn’t find a Power Ranking where we weren’t in the top 5. April is long gone and this is a different team, and the baseball world is figuring that out very quickly.

***Rankings from ESPN and MLB***