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Astros fans must revisit fired-up Jose Altuve clip that fueled AL West comeback

Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Climbing Tal's Hill

Los Angeles Angels v Houston Astros / Tim Warner/GettyImages

It seems like so long ago now, but the 2024 season got off to a dreadful start for the Houston Astros. Multiple early season injuries and underperformances in their rotation, combined with a very uneven offense, had the Astros well below .500, and convinced some observers that Houston's magic was finally gone. Sure, the Astros still had their believers, given the amount of baseball still left on the calendar, but there is no denying that things were looking grim.

However, a funny thing happened after that. On June 18, the Astros were 33-40 with a double-digit deficit in the division. By all accounts, it was one of the lowest points for Houston this season. On that day, Jose Altuve expressed his strong displeasure with the home plate umpire's performance as he took the field in a display that was just as much about venting his overall frustration as it was about about the specific call he hated.

Something clicked after that, and the Astros never looked back.

Jose Altuve's outburst was a turning point for the Astros' season

The clip linked above is a good one, if for no other reason than it creates a fun lip reading opportunity. Some of the words are pretty easy to guess and could probably be heard in the first dozen rows or so. The only way it would have been better is if Altuve had been mic'd up at the time, but that also probably would have resulted in some letters from angry parents.

Houston had already shown some signs of turning things around before that date, but it is still pretty striking how much better the Astros became once the face of their franchise went off. From June 19 through the end of the season, the Astros went 55-33, with only the Padres winning more games (and they only won one more). They mixed and matched their roster to cover for injuries and made some financially painful cuts to make improvements. In a lot of ways, Houston's division clinching win coming thanks largely to a big game from unlikely hero Jason Heyward was extremely fitting.

Just like that, the Astros are once again among the favorites to make a deep postseason run. Fans may struggle to watch the first round of games, as MLB released a true stinker of a playoff schedule, but it is still pretty clear that Jose Altuve, Houston's heartbeat and the man whose outburst may have caused this 2024 turnaround, will probably be in the middle of things yet again.

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Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.