Astros: Magic number is down to three after sweeping the Angels

As the Astros enter the final week of the regular season, it’s hard to imagine them losing to hold on the AL West.

As I wrote about this weekend, the Astros have seven games left, and the Athletics have only six games left. After the Athletics lost yesterday, they now 4.5 games back in the AL West. At this point in the year, the magic number is the main thing that matters. While there is mathematically a chance the Athletics could catch up.

The only problem that math doesn’t take into consideration is the human aspect. There is no way the Astros can’t get three wins during the final seven games, they have been a good team all year. Also, can the Athletics win all six games? All the Astros need is some combination of Astros wins and Athletics losses to add up to three. Even if the Athletics win the final six games, the Astros control their own destiny by needing to win three games.

We discussed this and more on last night’s Talking Stros, the last episode before we join the Houston Preeminence team on October 1st. We will continue to broadcast on KTXF-db through the rest of 2018, including Talking Stros shows this October after most of the games. Jayson Braddock joined us last night on the show to discuss the impending site launch.

Just win baby!

My co-host Brandon Del Castillo and I both agreed that we need to clinch the division so we can start prepping for the playoffs. Hopefully, they can do so by Wednesday versus the Blue Jays before heading to Baltimore. The earliest they could clinch is Tuesday if they get two wins and the A’s lose one game or if the Astros win one game and the A’s lose two games. Thankfully, we won’t have to play in the one game Wild-Card game.

As it stands today, the ALDS will begin on Friday, October 6th with the Indians coming to Houston to open a best of five series. They will play Friday and Saturday, then will travel to Cleveland to play a game Monday and Tuesday. If needed, the ALDS will continue in Houston on Thursday. Playoff tickets will go on sale soon, get them when you can.

Before we can punch the ticket back to October, the Astros need to take care of business versus the Blue Jays and Orioles. They can’t look past these two teams because they are professional baseball teams. The goal was to go back to back needs to start by taking care of business. It’s hard to believe that the Astros couldn’t win three games in the last seven games. But, that’s why they play baseball.

If the Astros do only get three wins, they will be tied with last year’s 101 wins. If they win four games, they will tie the 102 mark they set in 1998 behind the Randy Johnson trade. If they win five games, they will set a new franchise record. But as the managers always say, take it one game at a time. Let’s get the playoffs going soon.