If you think they were confident before …
A palpable clubhouse buzz comes with Greinke’s debut
When the Astros left Minute Maid Park for the evening Sunday, Alex Bregman was genuinely upset they weren’t playing the next day.
Like the rest of the team, its entire fan base and the rest of the baseball world, Bregman was ready for the next game: the highly anticipated debut of Zack Greinke in an Astros uniform.
Greinke, acquired via trade in the final moments before MLB’s 3 p.m. Wednesday deadline, understandably has baseball buzzing. With him, the Astros are easily the American League team to beat.
But with a day off Monday, everyone would have to wait a little while lon
ger to see Greinke start for the 2017 World Series champions. He’ll do it Tuesday night when the Astros open a two-game home series with the Colorado Rockies.
“I’m pumped,” Bregman said. “I might show up (Monday) and just wait.”
Bregman and his teammates have plenty of reasons to be excited.
They have won four games in a row in commanding fashion, having finished a three-game sweep of Seattle with a 3-1 win Sunday. Justin Verlander allowed one run and three hits while striking out 10 in his major league-best 15th victory.
It was a solid finish to a strong weekend that saw the Astros outscore the Mariners 22-3. They won Saturday behind a combined no-hitter from Aaron Sanchez, Will Harris, Joe Biagini and Chris Devenski.
The Astros’ 73-40 record is a franchise best after 113 games. And in the last 17 games, Astros starters are 14-1 with a 1.79 ERA.
With the rotation upgrade Greinke gives a team batting the Yankees for the American League’s best record, the Astros are in great shape. The games will have to be played, and players will have to stay healthy, but the Astros have everything they need to play for and win another championship.
Heading into his Astros debut, Greinke is 10-4 with a 2.90 ERA in 23 starts this season, his 16th in the majors. Over his 478 career appearances (437 of them starts) with the Royals, Brewers, Dodgers and Diamondacks, he is 197-122 with a 3.36 ERA.
“He’s one of the best pitchers in the league,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “And he joins a couple of guys — really, a handful of guys — that are really good. He’s a very interesting guy. He’s evolved as a pitcher. He’s a creative pitch maker with elite stuff and a cerebral approach that is arguably second to none in the big leagues.”
Greinke joins a starting rotation that includes Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Wade Miley. Another addition at the trade deadline, Sanchez, had a stellar debut Saturday as he pitched six innings of the combined no-hitter.
Greinke’s addition gives the Astros four pitchers with ERAs in the top dozen in the majors this year. Verlander is fifth with an AL-best 2.69, Cole is No. 10 at 2.87, Greinke ranks 11th, and Miley is 12th at 3.05.
Cole and Verlander rank first and second in the majors in strikeouts (216 and 206, respectively), and Verlander and Greinke are first and third in WHIP (0.81 and 0.95, respectively).
“Playing defense behind those guys is just fun,” Bregman said. “You want to do everything you can behind them, and you want to bring some runs in for them. It’s unbelievable to have them on your team.”
Bregman isn’t the only Astro excited about the addition of Greinke. As his debut drew nearer Sunday, there was an unmistakable vibe at Minute Maid.
These Astros have always been a confident bunch. That confidence is elevated now.
The last time the Astros were this high, this sure and this bold was when the team traded for Verlander in 2017. That season, of course, ended with a championship.
It’s no wonder his new teammates can’t wait to see Greinke pitch for them.
“It’s just like, ‘Wow.’ That’s a top-five pitcher in the game,” George Springer told the Chronicle in Cleveland just after the trade for Greinke. “I faced him plenty of times, and I know it’s not a lot of fun. He adds so much length to already really, really quality starters and a great pitching staff.”
With this pitching staff, every game is winnable.
“Since I’ve been here,” Hinch said, “I’ve always felt really good when we can roll a good starting pitcher out there. And we have some really good names, but more importantly, we have some really good guys who can produce and go out there and set an excellent tone for us. That adds to that vibe and that enjoyment coming to the ballpark for me and for the players. We just feel like we always have a chance.”