3 reasons why the Astros could win 100 games

The Houston Astros are off to a pretty good start to the season 24-13, atop the American League West. Justin Verlander is back and dominant as ever. Yordan Alvarez is scaring the daylights out of every pitcher he faces, and it’s been a surprisingly pleasant first part of the season.

Many of us at Climbing Tal’s Hill were vocal of the early season goals for this team looking to get back to the World Series. Which was pretty simple:

A. Stay around a .500 win percentage

B. Don’t get blasted with crippling injuries.

Houston mostly passed those tests. The Astros finished April 11-10 and then proceeded to pull off an 11-game winning streak. And until the recent injury to Jake Odorizzi, the Astros remained fairly healthy while their ace Lance McCullers Jr. inches back to the mound. Everything is going well for this Astros squad thus far.

But when will it go bad? When will the Astros have another tough stretch? When will the dog days of summer wear down this squad?

I got some news for you, pessimistic fans — I don’t think it’s happening.

For the record, I’m mostly optimistic about team performance. Some people might call me Pollyanna (it’s a book reference, look it up), some might think I’m being a homer. Heck, some might think I’m crazy and will go tell me to fly a kite — I might have one in the garage.

But here is why the Astros might be primed for a 100-win season.

The Astros’ remaining schedule is much easier.

The Astros navigated through arguably the toughest month of their schedule in April, playing their first nine games on the road, as well as matchups against the contending Toronto Blue Jays and  the feisty Seattle Mariners. Now, this arduous road known as the MLB season looks a lot less painful.

Houston has the sixth-easiest remaining schedule in the majors, when factoring in opponent win percentage, home vs, away games and travel. The only foreseeable tough stretches for this club would be a six-game road swing in New York playing both the Yankees and the Mets, the six total games against the Tampa Bay Rays and the 12 or so games left against a very competitive Los Angeles Angels.

But who else will they play? They have 19 games left against the Oakland A’s — who are likely going to be selling off players and auctioning off seats from the stands —, 15 games against the Texas Rangers — who are the resident AL West punching bag now with a bigger payroll —, seven games left against the Baltimore Orioles — who have been rebuilding since 1999 — and seven games against the Kansas City Royals — who will also likely be sellers around the trade deadline.

That’s 48 games against teams who will be severely outmatched when going up against Houston. I have the club going 36-12 against these teams.

When you add up their current record plus those 48 games against those four bottom-dwellers, the Astros project to have a record of 59-26. And even if the Astros win only a conservative 50% of those remaining 77 games (38-39), that would still put the season win total at 97.

With the Astros offense likely improving, the return of McCullers and the assumption of no major deflating injuries, I argue that Houston could easily exceed100 wins.

The Astros have viable trade options now to get a “World Series piece.”

The Astros have five starting pitchers — seven when McCullers and Odorizzi return this year. They have three centerfielders not named Pedro Leon. They have Triple-A depth in Enoli Paredes, Josh James, Niko Goodrum and Taylor Jones that could draw interest from major-league clubs.

And they have the mysterious and talented arm rumored to be known as Forrest Whitley, who is eyeing a rehab assignment, according to Astros Future.

The Astros don’t have enough to get a “Max Scherzer Type” player, but the Astros now have options at the deadline if they wanted to go get a significant piece for a title run.

This is a testament to the Astros’ brilliant development staff. Over the years, the Astros have made guys like JD Davis, Myles Straw, Bryan de La Cruz and Abraham Toro legitimate lineup options that they can leverage in trades.

And the terrific play of Chas McCormick and Jose Siri has significantly boosted their trade values and gives the Astros more options at the deadline than I originally thought. While the platoon awaits its fait, Jake Meyers nears a return, starting with live at-bats in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Houston could explore acquiring another starting quality pitcher — Frankie Montas or Luis Castillo. The club could offer one of its centerfielders and a few prospects to get that guy. Or if the Astros decide they need more offense at the catcher position, they have some realistic pieces to potentially get a Willson Contreras or Sean Murphy.

General manager James Click doesn’t hit on every move, but I trust with his vaunted trade pieces around him, he can find an impact player to help the Astros win even more games and hopefully a championship.

The grass is green, Astros fans. I could be very wrong and this time next month you can go after me on Twitter if it would make you feel better. But the Astros have a sneaky deep roster, even for their recent standards, and project to only rake up more wins.

Sit back and enjoy.