Houston must take advantage of opportunity after handling business against Seattle

While it was still just a series in July, it is not an understatement to say that the Houston Astros' matchup with the Mariners last weekend was a critical one. The Astros have obviously been playing really well over the last month and a half, and the division-leading Mariners had been cratering. Momentum really matters in the game of baseball, and Houston making a statement against Seattle would be huge for the Astros' chances in the AL West.

Fortunately, the Astros mostly accomplished their mission, as they took the series from the Mariners, but they now have to take advantage of the opportunity in front of them given their upcoming schedule.

Astros have a chance to put distance between themselves and division rivals over the next couple of weeks

As of Monday, the Astros are tied with Seattle atop the AL West. While this is great news considering how dire things looked for Houston at the end of May, the Mariners managing to win a game in last weekend's series does make getting the tiebreaker with Seattle at the end of the season difficult. That means Houston simply has to put distance between themselves and the rest of the division when the schedule presents opportunities for that to happen.

Over the next few weeks, the Astros have series against very beatable teams including the Athletics, Pirates, and the struggling division rival Rangers coming up. Winning all of those series feels very likely, and accomplishing that would help a great deal, as Seattle has tough series against the Red Sox and Phillies at the beginning of August after a couple of soft series at the end of July.

The one speed bump for Houston could be their series against the Dodgers on July 26-28. Obviously LA is an exceedingly talented, dangerous team and they have a guy named Shohei Ohtani in their lineup that you may have heard of, but the series is at home and the Dodgers are dealing with their own injuries in their rotation as well. If the Astros are going to play against LA, doing so when they don't have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Mookie Betts, and others is a good time to do it.

In an ideal world, the Astros would get Kyle Tucker back from his injury to help the cause. However, that isn't looking overly likely, as the team is being very cautious with his rehab at the moment. Still, these next couple of weeks look like a prime opportunity for Houston to make some waves, even if they aren't at full strength.

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