JENNY DIAL CREECH
A team of stars shines brightest when the supporting cast delivers.
They were World Series champs last season.
They followed that up by winning 103 games this season.
So naturally, all eyes will be on the Astros as they begin their 2018 postseason Friday afternoon.
Particular attention will be paid to several Astros.
Alex Bregman is having a killer season with MVP-level play. Justin Verlander is Cy Young Award material. Jose Altuve is the American League’s reigning Most Valuable Player, and George Springer won World Series MVP honors a year ago. Along with those four, pitcher Gerrit Cole was an All-Star.
But while the spotlight shines on the many stars Houston boasts, an important supporting cast is waiting in the wings. And if last year’s World Series run is any indication, they are going to be a key part of any postseason success this year.
Yuli Gurriel, Marwin Gonzalez, Josh Reddick, Jake Marisnick and Tyler White might not get as much attention as some of their teammates, but they are crucial components of this Astros team.
In fact, it was the completeness of last year’s team that made the 2017 Astros so special.
These guys all made significant impacts this season and can do so in the postseason as well.
Gurriel, whose .291 average and 85 RBIs ranked second on the team, couldn’t have found a better time to get hot. His September included a .356 batting average, five home runs and 21 RBIs. On Sept. 21, he helped the Astros clinch a playoff spot with seven RBIs in their 11-3 victory over the Angels at Minute Maid Park.
That type of offensive spark from Gurriel will be integral in a lineup that has Carlos Correa still feeling his way back from a back injury that sidelined him for the better part of two months. Correa batted as low as sixth toward the end of the season, and it’s possible manager A.J. Hinch will go with Gurriel in the cleanup role.
Gonzalez, the jack of all trades who likely will be the Astros’ primary left fielder in the postseason, started slowly this year and didn’t come close to matching his numbers of 2017, when he led the Astros with 90 RBIs and had an OPS of .907. But after a rough first half, in which he hit only .230 with an OPS of .660, he hit .275 with an .844 OPS after the All-Star break, finishing with 16 homers and 68 RBIs.
And it was Gonzalez who had one of the biggest hits in last year’s postseason run. His ninthinning homer off Kenley Jansen tied World Series Game 2, which the Astros went on to win in extra innings. Without that homer, there likely would have been no championship parade in downtown Houston.
“He’s a winning player,” Asatros manager A.J. Hinch says of Gonzalez.
Reddick has been up-anddown this season offensively, but he did have four home runs in September, and his defense hasn’t faltered. He also has had his share of highlight-worthy catches in right field.
The playoff experience Gurriel, Gonzalez and Reddick bring will be useful, too. They know the grind. They know what it’s like to be down in a series. They know how to fight back. They know about the travel, the dayto-day schedules, how much more media shows up, how much more publicity there is.
White, whose career was for two-plus years basically a shuttle between Class AAA Fresno and Houston, secured his place on this season’s playoff roster with a second-half breakout that saw him slash .287/.350/.551 with 10 home runs, 11 doubles, three triples and 39 RBIs in 178 at-bats after the All-Star break.
Marisnick missed the postseason last year after a broken thumb ended his season in September. He hit only .211 this year, but his defense is often spectacular. It’s conceivable that as a late-inning replacement, he could make a catch that saves a game.
It’s only right that the leading lights get the bulk of attention and credit for a 103-win regular season that was the best in Astros history. Bregman, who last postseason gave us a glimpse of what was to come in 2018, has emerged as a superstar. Verlander, in his first full season in an Astros uniform, has lived up to every ounce of hype. Springer still sets the tone for this team, and Altuve remains its heart.
Those players deserve to pop up on commercials, to have their jerseys sported by fans all over town, to be the faces of a team trying to be baseball’s first repeat champion since the 2000 Yankees completed a three-peat.
But in a sport where each game offers everyone the chance to be that day’s hero, the other Astros are going to be just as important.
If the supporting cast steps up the way it has all season, the Astros are going to be tough to beat.