4 Astros players who must step up immediately for a chance at playoff success

Throughout the course of 162 games, players performance ebbs and flows. Baseball tends to be a game of streaks. Hot streaks. Cold streaks. When multiple players get cold at one time, it usually results in a losing streak, and when they got at the same time, there's a big win streak.

With 17 games remaining in the regular season for the Astros to try to both win the AL West (they currently lead the Texas Rangers by 2 games) and run down the 2 seed in the American League (they trail the Chicago White Sox by 1.5 games), these four Astros players need to shake their doldrums and get back to their better performing ways if the Astros hope to advance in October:

Jeremy Pena

For the past 5 weeks Jeremy Pena has been mired in a horrific slump, and it comes on the heels of his hottest month of the season. Pena is the catalyst of the Astros offense. More than just a leadoff man, when Pena is grooving he hits for average, hits for extra base power, gets on base, is a threat to steal, and is Houston's best base runner. When he is right, he make sit difficult to teams to pitch around Yordan Alvarez, the leader in the clubhouse for AL MVP.

Pena entered play August 3rd hitting .322.and has gone 20x123 (.163) since, dropping his average down to .270. He is 3x29 (.103) in September through 7 games.

Pena doesn't need to be as scorching hot as he was in July (.381 AVG, 1.110 OPS) but he needs to be much better for an Astros offense that relies very healvily on him, Alvarez and Paredes to produce to score runs.

Yordan Alvarez

Did I just put the frontrunner for AL MVP on a list of guys who need to ramp up their productivity? I certainly did.

Alvarez' average has fallen from .323 on August 26 to .311 entering play today, primarily on the back of a 5x25 skid in September. While his August numbers were certainly respectable (.287 AVG, .415 OBP, .873 OPS), those are merely mortal numbers for the superhero bat that Alvarez is when he is right. Bottom line: the Astros NEED superhero Alvarez for this offense to churn.

While Pena is the catalyst to get the engine started, Alvarez is the supercharged 6.2L Hemi V8 engine churning over 1000 HP screaming so loud it the power terrfies opponents just by revving it.

Unfortunately Yordan has been experiencing something of a power outage, as he has hit only 3 HR since July 28. Houston needs Yordan back to his powerized, terrifying self to succeed in October.

Bryan King

King had carved a niche for himself in the Astros bullpen starting in 2024, and had become a mainstay in the Houston pen. King had even become a trusted leverage arm for Joe Espada this season and last.

That all seemed to come to a very abrupt halt on July 10. King entered that game with a terrific 2.03 ERA this season. That night, he got torched by the Texas Rangers for 4 runs and 2 homers, taking the loss in a 7-3 defeat. He had only allowed 1 HR all season to that point. While at the time it seemed like an aberration, it would prove to be far worse.

King would surrender a HR in each of his next three outings as well, allowing runs in each of the next four. It culminated in 10 ER in 5.2 innings, spiking his ERA to 3.74. Yet still, it got worse. King would allow 9 ER (including two homers) in 6.1 IP in August, leading to a 12.74 ERA in August that led to his being demoted a second time following his appearance August 20.

King was recalled by the Astros on September 4 following an injury to Steven Okert, who has been one of the best relievers in the Astros pen this season. Okert has earned the role of "stopper", called upon by Joe Espada when he needs to slam the door on an opposing team's rally. Okert has also been the primary 7th inning setup man, a role King had previously held.

King has only pitched once since his recall, taking the loss in a 4-3 extra inning loss to Arizona as the ghost runner scored, and Houston couldn't push across it's own.

The Astros pen, the strength of the staff since the return of Josh Hader, has gotten very thin right now due to injury and underproduction (notably by King). King being able to return to form would be a huge boost for the Astros pen and their ability to hold the line in relief.

Peter Lambert

Lambert's most recent start (September 6: 7 IP 3 ER 7H 0 BB 6K) was his first start of going at least 6 innings since July 22 (a span of 8 starts). It was the first time he had gone 7 innings and the first time he had not walked a batter since June 17,

While you may be thinking to yourself that considering how much the Astros rotation has struggled this season that those aren't bad, Lambert has been arguably the most consistent starter for the Astros this season. As a result, he has become one of their top three starters, along with Hunter Brown and Hayden Wesneski. While being a top 3 starter wasn't the expectation in April, expectations change with performance.

Now, Lambert's performance has come to be something the team has relied upon. They will need him to continue to pitch at that level if they hope to have postseason success, because you need at least 3 starters you can count on in the postseason to deliver for you. They need Lambert.

Lambert's 5.76 ERA in August across six starts was largely impacted by one start in which he was charged with 9 ER in 3.2 IP on August 20. However in 4 of those six starts, he didn't get past 5 innings. Houston needs the Lambert they have come to know and rely on this season if they hope to have enough pitching to succeed in the postseason.

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