The Houston Astros in 2016 had about as terrible of a start as one could imagine for a prospective playoff team when they began the season 7-17. Because of that, the team was constantly digging themselves out of that huge hole throughout the rest of the season, and despite gradually improving each month, they still only ended up with 84 wins. This proves that a hot start to a season can go a long way towards a good finish at the end of the season. The Astros have definitely done their part so far, and yet another home series, this time against the Royals, is just as important as the first one against the Mariners.
In the four games against the Mariners, Astros pitching was the strong point, believe it or not. I say this because if you asked any fan of baseball for their opinion on the strongest aspect of the team, they’d more than likely say the lineup. Dallas Keuchel made a return to his 2015 form that saw him win both the Cy Young and the Gold Glove award. Dallas gave up no runs in 7 innings, and completely outdueled Mariners’ ace Felix Hernandez. Keuchel was stellar hitting his spots, and keeping hitters off balance, but also flashed some leather when he made a great barehanded play on the third base side of the mound. http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/6479266/v1255615483/seahou-keuchel-fields-a-bunt-gets-the-out
If Keuchel can regain even just a fraction of his Cy Young season and not continue to regress like he did last year, when he had a 4.5+ ERA, than the Astros pitching staff should be much better off than they were a season ago.
Lance McCullers also pitched very well in his first April action of his career, believe it or not. Lance went 6 innings, and only gave up one run while striking out 7 Mariners to earn the win, which was saved(as well as the first game of the series) by Ken Giles. Giles is another key to the Astros having a better season. He was highly inconsistent in 2016, which was started by an absolutely terrible April, so it is a good sign that he’s started off so well in 2017. In Game 3, Charlie Morton turned in a third straight quality start for Houston to give the team a 3-0 series lead. The Astros seemed like they were in control in Game 4, but the bullpen blew the game late to allow Seattle to salvage a game in the series. A 3-1 start to the season is great, and is the best start for the Astros since the 2001 season. This is just 4 games out of 162, and the Astros hitting has been subpar at best, so they must continue getting better if they want to make a real run at a division and potentially a playoff run.
