Astros may have already started down the road that ruined cratering AL West rival

For the better part of a decade, the Houston Astros have dominated the AL West. One of their biggest victims over that time frame has been the Los Angeles Angels, whom they had repeatedly beaten into submission over the years. However, those were the Astros of old. The present-day Astros now look like a shell of their former selves.

As Houston's season is on the verge of spiraling out of control, it's becoming more and more apparent that they've started down the same road that landed the Angels in baseball purgatory. If they don't make a change soon, they'll find themselves in a world of pain, languishing with no direction, just as Los Angeles has for the last several years.

Four key ways in which the Astros have begun following the Angels into baseball purgatory

If the Astros took a moment for some quiet self-reflection, they would find that they're falling into the same traps that derailed the Angels despite them possessing the best player of his generation, Mike Trout, and at one point having the game's greatest unicorn in Shohei Ohtani. There are four key ways in which the Astros have gone off the rails, just like the Angels.

First is the bloated contracts present on the roster. The Astros have consistently spent more than the Angels, but both teams have consistently been in the top half of spending. The Angels finally escaped the Anthony Rendon debacle, and while the Astros have never thrown $245 million in the garbage as the Angels did, there are some similarities.

Both teams gave out lucrative contract extensions to the faces of their respective franchises, and while Jose Altuve's deal isn't as bloated as Mike Trout's, it certainly isn't looking good right now. In fact, most of the big money deals on Houston's books look pretty bad, with Carlos Correa, Tatsuya Imai, Lance McCullers Jr., and Cristian Javier all serving as prime examples of anchors on the books.

The second similarity between the clubs is the barren farm systems they possess. The Astros' farm system ranks 29th in the preseason rankings, while the Angels' system ranks 28th. The two clubs have been circling the drain here for the past few years, and the impacts are starting to show for both organizations.

Third, you have the propensity to rush prospects. The Angels have made that their prime development strategy with the likes of Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel, Christian Moore, and Ryan Johnson serving as prime examples. Houston hasn't reached that level of frequency, but the handling of Cam Smith is very Angels-esque.

Lastly, there are some parallels that can be drawn at the ownership ranks. Arte Moreno is one of the most erratic and worst owners in MLB. Despite all of the deficiencies his team possesses, he's refused to embrace rebuilds, with the aborted Shohei Ohtani-Junior Caminero trade serving as a prime example.

At the same time, Moreno has refused to spend the requisite dollars to transform his club into a perennial contender. The decision not to match the Dodgers' offer for Ohtani after rejecting the Tampa Bay Rays' offer is just one of a laundry list of examples.

Jim Crane isn't quite as bad, but his Moreno-like tendencies are starting to rear their heads. He has famously stated that the Astros will never rebuild as long as he owns the team, but he's also been steadfast in his desire to stay under the luxury tax line despite the clear roster deficiencies.

Add all of these factors together, and it's becoming clear that the Astros are following their Angels' formula for irrelevance. Without a shift in direction coming soon, we'll find this as both an aging but talent-devoid roster without the resources to improve, heading on a rocketship to no man's land. After having a front row seat to the Angels' ineptitude, no one wants that, but it will become Houston's destiny without a bold shift in thinking.

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