Astros Fight Back to Defeat the Athletics Behind Margo

Better Late Than Never for the Astros in Oakland!

Every win now is precious for the Houston Astros as they now only have 12 games remaining after last night’s game versus the A’s. Trailing most of the game, the Stros were able to tie the game in the eighth inning as Tyler White doubles Teoscar Hernandez home. Following Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa singles, the Athletics walk Evan Gattis to load bases with no outs.

Up steps super utility man Marwin Gonzalez, who has become the answer for most of the season at first base. He sends a ground ball up the middle to drive in Altuve and Correa, who both celebrated after scoring the game winners. This is what the wild card race is made for, to create excitement for teams that may be out of the race normally.

Last night, the Orioles were defeated by the Red Sox 5-2. The Orioles still have a three game lead over the Stros in the wild card but are now tied with the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays helped Houston by beating Seattle, who have now tied with Houston three games out of the wild card. With the Tigers winning, they pick up a game on the Orioles.

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What I am trying to say is that the race is so close this year that we may not know who will win the wild card slots until game 162. We could also be looking at a 163rd game to decided which two teams will play in the AL Wild Card game. Will the Astros be involved, in depends on how they play from here on out.

FiveThirtyEight has the Astros with a 19% chance of making the plays via the wild card. Seattle is at 18% while the Tigers are at 23%. The Blue Jays and Orioles have a 69% and 68% percent chance of making the playoffs respectively. While the Blue Jays schedule is tougher than the Orioles, I don’t care which team falls out of the race. We need in.

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Just to be given the chance to play that one game would be great for the Houston organization, but the math is against them at this point. Maybe if we had a better April. The Stros have an easy schedule for the rest of the year, but they can’t afford to lose too many of those contest. Good luck to the boys, let’s take care of business versus Oakland.

***Stats from Baseball-Reference and FiveThirtyEight***