3 big Roadblocks to the Astros Continuing their streak as Division Champs post trade deadline, and 1 hope

The Houston Astros have won the American League West 5 of the last 6 years, with the exception of the truncated 2020 season. This trade deadline could put that streak in jeopardy.  Similarly the Astros have been in the American League Championship Series 6 years in a row, but there could be a change this year.  The Astros are still a very good team, but the competition in the American League has gotten that much better.  

The biggest issue that also impacted the trade deadline is that there are only small differences in records of so many teams, leaving a lot of buyers and only a few sellers.  The sellers have a very favorable market and so buyers, like the Astros must pay a hefty price to acquire the top players.  Additionally, the sellers have dwindled in July as several teams started playing well, and the teams at the top stumbled a bit. 

We will look at three big factors from trades that did happen that could jeopardize the Houston Astros dominance streak. Time will tell of course but with both Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez returning, the Astros could be a brand new team over the next two months.