Seeing the Houston Astros for the first time this season
The A’s are back in the win column after seeing their 11-game losing streak come to an end yesterday in the series finale against the Phillies. They now sit dead last in the division with a 23-31 record and things aren’t feeling positive right now as the end of May rapidly approaches. The lineup hasn’t been hitting, the starters have been inconsistent at best, and the bullpen has been a source of major frustration for the past couple of weeks. They need to turn things around fast if they want to get back in the playoff hunt. That road back to contention begins tonight with the first of two games against the team in second place in the division, the Houston Astros, who the club will be seeing for the first time this season.
- Astros W/L record: 28-25 (2nd in AL West)
- Run differential: +24
- Team OPS: .709 (14th of 30)
- Team ERA: 3.42 (8th of 30)
Houston is having yet another quality season here in 2025. After 10 straight seasons of winning baseball the Astros are seemingly on their way to an 11th. That won’t guarantee them a spot in the postseason, but they’ve made it to eight straight times and nine in 10 seasons. You’ll be hard-pressed to find many squads that have had that run of success for so long, and they’ve cashed in on those trips to the playoffs with a pair of rings to show for it.
This season is the first in nine years that the club doesn’t have third baseman Alex Bregman in the fold after he departed for the Boston Red Sox over the offseason. The Astros haven’t missed a beat without him as his replacement at the hot corner, Isaac Paredes, has been one of the team’s best hitters so far with a team-leading 11 home runs. He leads Houston’s new and upcoming era of young talent, along with shortstop Jeremy Pena (.797 OPS), right fielder Cam Smith (rookie with a .261 BA) and center fielder Jake Myers (.300 BA, 8 SB).
They still have longtime second baseman Jose Altuve in the fold but he’s finally given up his infield glove to take over left field for Houston. Slugger Yordan Alvarez is still around but injured yet again and will miss this series. The Astros also bid goodbye to Kyle Tucker in the offseason and haven’t quite replaced his production yet. First baseman Christian Walker has been a disappointment after securing the lucrative contract this offseason, and new scenery hasn’t helped former top prospect Brendan Rogers reach his potential as he’s out to a dismal start.
Houston’s pitching has been their strength. Their starting rotation as a whole ranks just 15th with a 3.86 ERA but their top two starters, lefty Framber Valdez and right-hander Hunter Brown, have been two of the best pitchers in the league this year. Brown in particular has seemingly unlocked a whole new level as the former top prospect has a godly 2.04 ERA in 10 starts. The rest of their rotation has ERA’s in the 4’s but they’ve made up for that with an elite bullpen that ranks second in all of baseball with a 2.75 ERA as a group. Their top-4 relievers all have sub-2 ERA’s, led by closer Josh Hader and his 13 saves. It’ll be important for the Athletics to get a lead before it gets late or else they’ll have an uphill climb.
The first game will see lefty JP Sears take the hill for the 11th time this year. He has an even 4.00 ERA after getting hit hard in his previous two starts. Prior to that the third-year starter had provided a quality start in six of seven appearances and was sporting an ERA of 2.80. His last time out was particularly rough as he yielded four home runs in a loss to the Angels. Hopefully the league hasn’t caught on to Sears and he can make adjustments to get back to where he was earlier this year. He’s 2-2 with a 3.92 career mark in 8 appearances (7 starts) against the Astros.
Opposing him for Houston will be right-hander Hunter Brown. The former top pitching prospect in baseball is reaching that sky-high potential with an out-of-nowhere Cy Young-worthy campaign so far. He’s top-5 in most categories but whether he can keep this up for a full season will be the question. No question about it, the A’s bats will be going up against a buzzsaw in Brown so anything they can get against him will be huge.
The quick 2-game series wraps up the next morning with a pitching matchup between veteran right-handers Luis Severino and Lance McCullers Jr. For McCullers, he’s only just finally returned to the major leagues after missing a large portion of last season and it seems like he’s still trying to figure things out. His 6.57 ERA isn’t anything pretty to look at but a lot of that damage came in one outing where he allowed seven runs compared to just one out. He’s yet to pitch five complete frames but he got close in his last start when he only allowed a pair of runs to the Mariners in 4 1⁄3 innings.
The Athletics will be hoping Severino can serve as a 1-2 punch with Sears. After a couple less-than-stellar outings where he got tagged for 12 runs the 32-year-old veteran has bounced back, pitching six innings in each of his two starts since and allowing just two runs. The Athletics would gladly take more of that tonight against Houston as Sevy will hope to get his ERA under 4 by the end of the day. He’s gotten hit hard by the Astros in his career but he’s never faced them as an Athletic.