No one thought these four teams would be in race
When spring training convened, Dallas Keuchel was merely a candidate to be the Houston Astros’ opening day starter, Carlos Correa hadn’t played a game above Class A, Luke Gregerson hadn’t been a full-time closer and A.J. Hinch hadn’t managed a full major league season.
When spring training convened, there was no way to know how those 162 would play out for the Astros, whose marked improvement in 2014 meant they won 70 games, up from 51, 55 and 56 in the previous three years. There was talent on the roster and on the way. But was 2015 a realistic time for it to arrive? Could Houston move forward this season?
Tuesday night in New York, the Astros thumped the Yankees, 15-1. Houston beat New York again Wednesday afternoon, 6-2, opening a five-game lead in the American League West, the franchise’s largest lead in a division since 2001, the heyday of the Jeff BagwellCraig Biggio “Killer B’s” days. They are on their way to their first postseason appearance in a decade, and they are doing it before such a performance could be reasonably expected.
As September approaches, the playoff chases have long since taken shape, and the Astros are just one of a handful of teams that finds itself in contention perhaps a year before it seemed rational.
The New York Mets held a healthy 6½ game lead over Washington in the National League East entering Thursday in a year when one key pitcher (Matt Harvey) was coming back from Tommy John surgery, another (Zack Wheeler) was lost to it and another (Noah Syndergaard) hadn’t thrown a major league pitch.
The Chicago Cubs had an astonishing 5½ game lead in the NL wild-card race after Thursday’s 9-1 loss to San Francisco, even though their starting third baseman (Kris Bryant), second baseman (Addison Russell) and catcher (Kyle Schwarber) hadn’t played a major league game before this year.
The Minnesota Twins opened Thursday with a half-game lead in the AL wild-card race even though top prospects Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton have combined for just 51 big-league games. Too much too soon? Who’s to say?
And then there are the Astros. Tuesday night, Keuchel threw seven shutout innings against the Yankees, the 16th time this season he had completed seven innings and allowed three or fewer earned runs. He not only has become Houston’s obvious ace, but the AL starter in the all-star Game.
That helped accelerate the Astros’ clock. At the trade deadline, they went shopping — for a lot. They landed Milwaukee righthander Mike Fiers, who has already thrown a no-hitter for Houston. They also nabbed outfielder Carlos Gomez from the Brewers, and the veteran may have shaken off a jittery transition with a homer and four RBI on Tuesday night.
Thus far, the Astros, Mets, Cubs and Twins have done more wrong than right. The 2015 post-season is likely to include one or all of those teams, whether that seemed reasonable when spring training began or not.