The Astros have climbed back into the postseason picture and now sit atop the AL West, holding a 1.5-game edge over the Texas Rangers. At the center of that push is Yordan Alvarez, who has been carrying Houston with the kind of production that has put him in the thick of the AL MVP race. ESPN even slotted him at No. 3 in its MLB player rankings heading into August 13.
But Alvarez is chasing something even rarer than an MVP trophy. He’s in position to go after the Triple Crown, and ESPN’s David Schoenfield pointed out that he has a real shot at it.
“What he's done so far: Oh, you know, just chasing a Triple Crown, something only 10 players have accomplished a total of 12 times since 1920, with Miguel Cabrera in 2012 the only player to do it since 1967,” Schoenfield writes.
To pull it off, Alvarez has to finish first in the American League in home runs, RBIs and batting average. Right now, he looks strongest in the batting average race, where he sits at .322. Chandler Simpson is next at .307, and Yandy Diaz follows at .302.
He also owns the AL RBI lead with 87, which is the most in the league and second-most in MLB. Dillon Dingler is right behind him at 80, so that part of the race still has some life left in it.
The toughest hurdle is probably the home run chase. Alvarez has 35 homers, tied with three other players in MLB, including the AL’s Junior Caminero.
So Alvarez is holding the Triple Crown lead, but the margin is thin. He needs more cushion in RBIs and at least one more homer than Caminero over the rest of the way to give himself a strong chance at one of the rarest accomplishments in the sport.
The underlying case is already loud. Alvarez’s 1.057 OPS leads Major League Baseball, and he has been the game’s best hitter by a clear margin.
If he finishes the job, Alvarez would become only the second player since 1967 to win a Triple Crown. That’s the kind of history worth watching every night from here on out.
In Other News...
Mike Burrows Just Gave The Astros A Reason To Reconsider Him
Mike Burrows kept moving in the right direction during a rehab start for Triple-A Sugar Land, giving the Astros another look at a right-hander who seems to be regaining some of the stuff that made him worth tracking in the first place. He worked 4 1/3 scoreless innings, allowed three hits and one walk, and needed 67 pitches to get through the outing while his fastball sat at 95.6 mph.
The bigger question now is what comes next for Burrows and Houston. He logged 10 swings and misses, a promising sign for a pitcher trying to reestablish himself, but the Astros still have to determine how many more rehab outings he will need before they even decide whether he is ready to rejoin the big league staff. For now, this was the kind of step forward that at least puts his name back on the radar. [Read more 🡒]
Astros May Have Found The Bullpen Piece They Cant Let Walk
Steven Okert has quietly become one of the steadier arms in Houstons bullpen, the kind of midseason find that can change how a relief group looks over the long haul. Through 59 games, he has given the Astros consistent work with a 2.11 ERA, and his numbers have been even better since June, when he settled in as a genuinely dependable option alongside Josh Hader and Bryan Abreu.
For a club trying to keep pace in the AL West, that kind of relief depth matters almost as much as the headline names. Okert has paired miss bats with good command and given Houston a left-handed presence it can trust late in games, which is exactly why his future is starting to loom larger as free agency approaches. The Astros have already seen what he can do this season, and now the question is whether they let a useful bullpen piece get to the open market. [Read more 🡒]
Astros Deadline Addition Just Delivered His First Real Clutch Moment
The Astros went into the trade deadline looking for a left-handed bat to balance the lineup, and Daulton Varsho was brought in from Toronto to help fill that need. His start in Houston was uneven, but the club kept sticking with the idea that his value would show up in bigger moments, especially against high-leverage pitching when every at-bat matters.
Against the Mariners, Varsho finally gave the Astros the kind of timely contact they had been waiting for, ripping a game-tying single in the bottom of the 10th to keep the inning alive. Christian Walker finished the job with a walk-off three-run homer, and Houston walked away with a win that nudged its lead in the American League West a little more comfortably into place. [Read more 🡒]