Are the Astros World Series contenders? Are they a losing team going the wrong way? Are they as hateable as they once were?
The following written content by Emma Baccellieri
First, a quiz. The Houston Astros are:
a) A team that finished 2020 just a game away from the World Series—a team that finished 2019 just a game away (seven outs, really) from winning the World Series—and still has a solid chunk of its core intact
b) A team that finished last season with a losing record, struggled with subpar performances from some of its biggest stars and now has to watch its biggest free agent walk away
c) A team that proves the difficulty of projecting anything after a pandemic-shortened micro-season
The answer doesn’t particularly matter. (You can make an acceptable case for “all of the above,” or “none of the above,” or any of the above.) The point lies simply in the fact that the question is worth asking. The 2020 Astros were similarly hard to pin down: “Injury-ravaged team makes the playoffs despite a losing record and goes surprisingly far” would have been the perfect underdog story if, in fact, the team had felt more like an actual underdog and less like a wrestling heel. Their role in 2021 is just as murky. Even as their offseason took shape this week—re-signing outfielder Michael Brantley and, as expected, not re-signing top free agent George Springer—it’s still difficult to pinpoint their trajectory.
These Astros are not the same ones who dominated their division with maddening precision for most of the last few years. But they’re also not quite … not. So who are they? There’s no clear answer to this question, either, but here are a few of the possibilities.
a) A Division Favorite and Serious Contender
Sure, this would require a sizable step forward from last season. But who’s to say that last season, with its irregular schedule and unique pressures, wasn’t just an anomaly? Read more from Sports Illustrated.
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