MLB power rankings have the Astros right where they belong again

The Houston Astros closed out one of their best series of the year on Thursday with a 2-1 win over the Phillies to secure a three-game sweep. While the Astros only scored five runs across the series, they were able to pick up the sweep thanks to some lights out pitching and timely hitting. They now sit at 48-33, and are 6 1/2 games up on the Seattle Mariners for first place in the American League West. 

That strong run of play has caught the eye of baseball pundits from across the country, including one national baseball outlet which gave the Astros their due respect in the newest iteration of their power rankings.

MLB power rankings have the Astros right where they belong again

On Friday, CBS Sports’ Matt Snyder put out his weekly MLB power rankings, where he had the surging Astros ranked in the No. 6 spot. 

“If there is a concern here, it would be the rotation depth due to all the injuries. Spencer Arrighetti won't be out a lot longer, though, while Luis Garcia and J.P. France are both working their way back from major surgeries. Things could all sort out rather well,” Synder wrote. 

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Synder focused on the Astros’ rotation since that’s the main storyline around the team. The Astros have the third-best team ERA in baseball (3.40), while Houston’s starters have posted a strong 3.52 ERA this season despite dealing with the aforementioned injuries that Snyder mentioned. 

The Astros have benefited from a breakout season from Hunter Brown, who lowered his ERA to an MLB 1.79 after tossing seven scoreless innings in Houston’s win over the Phillies on Thursday. Brown also leads all of baseball in ERA+ (229) and has been worth an American League-leading 3.9 bWAR so far this season. 

They’ve also benefited from another strong season from Framber Valdez (8-4, 2.88 ERA) to go along with lockdown seasons from Josh Hader (21 saves) and Bryan Abreu (1.72 ERA). 

Houston's offense has also been pretty solid, even if the success hasn’t come in the ways we expect. Jeremy Peña hitting .347 and on pace to be worth 6+ bWAR ahead of free agency, Jake Meyers has had a surprising season at the bottom of the order and Cam Smith is making Kyle Tucker’s strong season with the Cubs a little more palatable. 

And all that has happened without the big names in their lineup producing. Christian Walker and Jose Altuve have been negative bWAR players this year, and Yordan Alvarez was the same before he suffered a right hand fracture. 

This is the most dominant the Astros have been since the halcyon days of the late 2010s and early 2020s, but they’re winning in a way that’s completely different to how that team won. 

But in the end, they’re winning, and that’s the most important thing.

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