As mentioned previously, the Astros have a 49-16 home record in 2019. At home vs the AL West, the Astros are 23-2. The two losses? A 5-4 loss to Anaheim on July 5. A 4-3 loss in 11 innings to Oakland on July 23.
If we're scoreboard watching...
Oakland beat the piss out of the Royals, 19-4.
New York beat the Mariners, 5-4.
Los Angeles lost to the Padres, 4-3.
In Other Words:
Los Angeles: -
New York: -0.5
Houston: -1.0
Oakland: - 10.0
The Astros need to go 15-15 to hit the 100-win mark for the 3rd straight season, and would be the first team to do so since New York did it from 2002-2004. Bregman's ready for it:
It's going to be a good race to the finish, and then real baseball starts. Looking forward to it.
Hinch:
We want the best record; we want home field. To be honest with you, we won the World Series on the road in Game 7. It would have been nice to have that at home at Minute Maid, so we want the best record in baseball.
*Playoff Odds (Note: I'm doing this about 4:40am Central. Some sites (B-Pro, B-Ref) haven't updated from last night's games, but you'll get the basic idea. Click the links later to see how it changed, if you want.)
| Site | Proj. Rec. | % to win ALW | % to win AL | % to win WS |
| B-Ref | 103-59 | 99.1% | 32.1% | 15.2% |
| FanGraphs | 105-57 | 99.9% | 44.2% | 29.6% |
| 538 | 104-58 | >99% | - | 24.0% |
| BPro | 104-58 | 99.8% | - | 23.6% |
Nothing much has changed regarding these numbers from the last time we did this, just over two weeks ago. FanGraphs and FiveThirtyEight still think the Astros have the best chance of winning the World Series. Baseball Prospectus and Baseball-Reference still give the edge to the Dodgers.
*Jake Kaplan says these 11 players are fighting for a playoff roster spot down the stretch. And Ken Rosenthal has some thoughts on the Verlander v. Fenech title bout. (Both $)
*ESPN's Bradford Doolittle, on how the Astros just keep getting better and better.
*Hunter Atkins: Michael Brantley is baseball's grumpiest player, and the Astros couldn't be happier.
*McTaggart has an inbox in which he discusses Yordan's Rookie of the Year chances, Forrest Whitley's chances of pitching in the postseason, Kyle Tucker unseating Josh Reddick, the chances of bringing back Smith, McHugh, Harris, Rondon, and Miley.
*You need this new Yordan shirt from BreakingT:
*A.J. Hinch, on Cy Sneed and his four call-ups/send-downs in August:
He has such a great attitude. We are going to bring him back in September at some point, and he's going to get an opportunity to pitch a little bit more than he has. He's been a trooper and gotten some frequent-flyer miles and been our insurance policy, and I applaud his attitude.
*Round Rock has a huge series regarding their division this week, beginning with last night's 6-0 win over San Antonio to push the Express' lead over San Antonio to two games. Jose Urquidy struck out eight batters in 5.2 scoreless innings.
*Fayetteville's Luis Garcia last night: 5IP, 0H/0ER, 10K:4BB. He has 40K:9BB in his last 21IP.
*Bad news for me: Apparently getting six hours of sleep is just as bad as not sleeping at all.
*How to become a great impostor.
*Esquire: Inside the twisted, worldwide hunt for a $7m stolen car.
*Wired: America's decades-old obsession with nuking hurricanes.
*A Musical Selection: