Astros losing skid has surprising silver lining hiding in plain sight

If you've been around baseball for any length of time, you've probably heard the classic line, "You can't win the pennant in April, but you can certainly lose it." After dropping Monday's game to the Seattle Mariners, the Houston Astros have lost eight straight games, and may have effectively proven that old adage to be true.

Thankfully, the Astros' division is among the weakest in all of Major League Baseball, and despite their current losing skid, Houston is just 3½ games back of the first-place Texas Rangers whose 9-7 record has done little to put any semblance of distance between them and their division rivals.

One look at the AL West standings reveals why there's no need for panic among the Houston faithful. By no means does that excuse the Astros' poor play, nor does it absolve the front office's offseason decision-making and roster construction. Just because there's no need to panic doesn't mean there's not reason for concern.

The Astros pitching staff has been decimated by injuries, and now Jeremy Peña has been sidelined with a hamstring strain. Peña, Tatsuya Imai, Bennett Sousa, Christian Javier, Jake Meyers, Hunter Brown, and Josh Hader are all on the IL at the moment.

Few teams would be able to survive the early onslaught of the season without their All-Star closer, MVP-caliber shortstop, and three of the five members of their Opening Day starting rotation — one of whom was a Cy Young Award finalist in 2025.

But injuries are no excuse for the type of performance fans have seen from the Astros early on. Houston's 95 runs scored is tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the league lead. Unfortunately, their 107 runs allowed leads the league as well. In short, Houston is scoring plenty of runs, but their pitching staff can't keep the other team from scoring.

Lack of elite teams in the AL West has helped keep Astros afloat

The Rangers have the exact opposite problem. Texas' 56 runs allowed is among the fewest in all of MLB, but their offense is among the bottom-third in the league. The Los Angeles Angels are off to a surprising start, but their roster isn't built to last for a 162-game season. The same can be said of the Athletics, who, while talented, are extremely young and lack top-tier pitching.

One could make the argument that Seattle, who just swept Houston, represents the biggest obstacle to the Astros' pursuit of the AL West crown in 2026. Both teams are off to dreadful starts this season, and their win-loss records away from home are a big reason why. The Astros are 1-9 on the road this season and the Mariners are 1-5 away from T-Mobile Park.

Astros fans can't be happy with the way this season started — nor should they be — but there's reason to believe that the team can turn thing around in the coming weeks. There's no juggernaut in the AL West this year, and that gives the Astros a little more grace during the first month or two of the season.

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