With 17 games left in the regular season, the Astros are still chasing two goals at once: the AL West, where they hold a 2-game edge over the Texas Rangers, and the No. 2 seed in the American League, where they trail the Chicago White Sox by 1.5 games. If Houston is going to make a real run in October, it needs several key pieces to shake off recent rough patches and get back on track fast.
Jeremy Pena is at the top of that list because so much of the Astros offense runs through him. He’s more than a leadoff hitter when he’s right - he sets the tone with average, extra-base power, baserunning, and the kind of pressure that makes it harder to work around Yordan Alvarez.
But Pena has been stuck in a deep slump for the past five weeks after his best stretch of the season. He entered play on August 3 hitting .322, then went 20-for-123 (.163) to drop to .270 overall.
In September, he’s 3-for-29 (.103) through seven games. He doesn’t need to repeat his July explosion, when he hit .381 with a 1.110 OPS, but Houston badly needs him closer to that level.
That brings us to Alvarez, who somehow lands on a list of players needing to heat up even while sitting in the AL MVP conversation. His average has dipped from .323 on August 26 to .311 entering play today, largely because of a 5-for-25 September skid.
August was still solid - .287 AVG, .415 OBP, .873 OPS - but for Alvarez, those are ordinary numbers. The Astros need the version of him that overwhelms pitchers, not the one who has gone through a quieter stretch.
Since July 28, he has hit only 3 home runs, and Houston needs his power back in a big way.
The bullpen has its own problem spot, and Bryan King is right in the middle of it. King had become a reliable arm for Joe Espada after carving out a role in 2024 and settling in as a trusted leverage reliever this season and last.
Then July 10 changed everything. He entered that game with a 2.03 ERA, got hit hard by the Texas Rangers for 4 runs and 2 homers in a 7-3 loss, and the slide kept rolling.
He allowed homers in each of his next three outings and runs in each of his next four, finishing that stretch with 10 earned runs in 5.2 innings and a 3.74 ERA. August was even worse: 9 earned runs, including two homers, in 6.1 innings, which left him with a 12.74 ERA for the month and sent him down again after his August 20 appearance.
King was brought back on September 4 after Steven Okert went on the injured list. Okert has been one of Houston’s best relievers this season and has filled the “stopper” role for Espada, while also working as the main seventh-inning setup man - a spot King had occupied before.
King has pitched once since returning, taking the loss in a 4-3 extra-inning defeat to Arizona when the ghost runner scored and Houston couldn’t answer. With the bullpen thinned by injuries and uneven production, especially from King, the Astros need him to reclaim his old form.
Then there’s Peter Lambert, whose importance has grown as the season has worn on. His most recent outing on September 6 was his best sign in a while: 7 innings, 3 earned runs, 7 hits, no walks, and 6 strikeouts.
It was his first time going at least 6 innings since July 22, a stretch of eight starts, and his first 7-inning start and first no-walk outing since June 17. Given how the rotation has looked overall, that consistency has made him one of Houston’s top three starters alongside Hunter Brown and Hayden Wesneski.
That wasn’t the preseason expectation, but it is where things stand now. The Astros need Lambert to keep giving them that level of work because postseason baseball demands at least three starters you can trust.
August was rough - a 5.76 ERA in six starts - though one outing on August 20, when he gave up 9 earned runs in 3.2 innings, dragged that number down hard. Even so, he failed to get past five innings in four of those six starts.
If Houston wants enough pitching to survive October, it needs the Lambert it has leaned on all season.
In Other News...
Astros Face A Tough Daulton Varsho Decision At The Worst Time
With a two-game cushion in the AL West and an eye on locking up an automatic bye to the ALDS, the Astros are in the kind of stretch where every roster choice gets magnified. Daulton Varsho arrived from Toronto at the Aug. 1 trade deadline as a move meant to strengthen the outfield mix, but his bat has not given Houston the kind of lift it wanted, and that has turned a straightforward deadline addition into a more complicated September evaluation.
Varsho's defensive value still matters, and his postseason track record gives the Astros a reason to stay patient, but the offensive line is hard to ignore. If the production does not come around soon, Houston may have to decide whether to keep leaning on his glove or trim his role at exactly the time when it would rather have its lineup sorting itself out on the way to October. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies All-Star Made One Costly Mistake Astros Fans Loved
Brandon Marsh gave the Phillies a lift with an RBI double, but the moment that stuck with Astros fans came later, when Houston shortstop Jeremy Pea turned a sharp line drive into a double play by doubling Marsh off second base. It was the kind of clean defensive snap that can change a game in a hurry, and it helped keep Houston in a tight matchup against one of the National Leagues top teams.
Marsh took full responsibility afterward for the baserunning mistake, a candid acknowledgment in a game Philadelphia dropped 6-5. For Houston, it was another small but meaningful win in a season where every break matters, while for the Phillies it added to a frustrating night that left them even further back in the NL East race. [Read more 🡒]
Astros Rotation Suddenly Has A New Reason For Confidence Down The Stretch
Hayden Wesneski has given Houston a timely lift at exactly the right point in the season, putting together back-to-back quality starts and showing he can handle meaningful innings every fifth day. His latest outing came against the Phillies, when he worked six innings and allowed three earned runs, another sign that the Astros are getting steadier production from a rotation spot that needed it.
Since coming back from Tommy John surgery, Wesneski has settled in as more than just a fill-in. He is 5-1 with a 3.35 ERA in eight starts and has looked like a dependable No. 3 starter, thanks to sharp control and effective pitch mix. For an Astros team looking to keep winning down the stretch, that kind of stability can change the tone of the whole staff. [Read more 🡒]