THE PALLILOG
Here's why we could be watching a historically great Astros offense
May 21, 2021, 10:38 am
The Astros are crushing the baseball. Photo by Getty Images.
Altuve's late homer helps lift Astros over Yankees in finale
Mashing the A's the last two days has the Astros back in first place and rolling into their weekend series at the American League West cellar dwelling Texas Rangers. Last weekend the Astros swept the Rangers four straight at Minute Maid Park. Put most simply, the Astros are good the Rangers are bad.
The top five hitters in Dusty Baker's batting order are all hitting over .300: Jose Altuve .314, Michael Brantley .307, Alex Bregman .324, Yordan Alvarez .338, Yuli Gurriel .333. It's even more impressive in this thus far depressed hitting season. The batting average for all Major League Baseball is .236. If it stays there (unlikely) it will be the lowest season batting average in the history of the sport.
The "Murderers' Row" 1927 Yankees lineup stood taller over its competition than any other ever. Among players with the required plate appearances to be eligible for the batting title the '27 Yanks had five .300 hitters. The 1976 Cincinnati Reds offense dominated its league like few others. The "Big Red Machine" had five .300 hitters. The 1999 Indians are the only team in the last 70 years to score more than 1000 runs for the season. They had four .300 hitters. The '95 Indians had six. The 2017 Astros' offense that was way better than any other in the AL (in contrast with the '19 team which was basically even with the Twins and Yankees) had four .300 hitters.
Another no-no?
The Rangers were no-hit this week. Again. It's the second time in their first season with fans allowed to watch the Rangers in their new billionaire playpen that is Globe Life Field. No team in big league history has been no-hit three times in a season. Among the absurd six no-hitters already thrown in 2021 the Rangers, Mariners, and Indians have each been victimized twice. The modern era (since 1900) record for no-hitters in a season is seven.
Corey Kluber owning the Rangers Wednesday had to sting a bit extra for the Arlingtonians. Last season the Rangers paid Kluber about seven million dollars (a short season trim from what otherwise would have been an 18 million dollar guarantee) to pitch one inning and be done for the season with an arm injury. The Yankees took an 11 million dollar flier on Kluber for 2021, so of course in his first game against the Rangers he no-hits them. On a night the Rangers gave out Corey Kluber bobbleheads! They were clearing inventory of some stuff they never had the chance to give away last year. The Astros are doing the same thing.
Exciting homestand on the horizon
What a fun homestand upcoming for the Astros. First the reigning World Series Champions are here for two. The Dodgers starting pitchers should be Clayton Kershaw and Trevor Bauer. Then the Padres are in for three, led by spectacular shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. Then the Red Sox are in for four. Good timing for the Astros to be opening up Minute Maid Park to full seating capacity. However…
It is lame if the Astros will continue to require ticket purchases to be all digital, in the process forcing fans to pay the obscene tack on fees. I'm all for safety, but if it's okay to pack the ballpark it certainly is okay to sell tickets through a glass partitioned window.
NHL and NBA playoffs
The National Hockey League playoffs have started sensationally. Of course they have. The NHL postseason is the most relentlessly intense in all pro sports. We'll see starting Saturday how the NBA playoffs go. No Rockets involved for the first time in nine years, but the Western Conference matchups are fantastic. If you're a Rocket fan there's a good chance you despise the Lakers. If so you have additional incentive to root against the defending champs. The '95 Rockets won their back-to-back championship as a sixth seed. No one has matched that much less surpassed it. The Lakers are the seventh seed. Via the betting odds the Lakers are favored to win the West. James Harden and the Brooklyn Nets are favored to take the title. The Rockets meanwhile rue their own plight, and perhaps start gathering good luck charms for the draft lottery which is one month from Saturday.
Denver's Nikola Jokic clearly should win the NBA Most Valuable player award. Any opinion that Jokic is unworthy is stupid. But a vote for Stephen Curry is certainly justifiable.
Buzzer Beaters:
1. More exciting quarterback signing for the Texans: Ryan Finley or Jeff Driskel? I'm calling it a tie.
2. Other than that he's really rich I know next to nothing about the guy paying some 400 million dollars to become the lead owner of the Houston Dynamo and Dash. Ted Segal can't help but be better than the outgoing cheapo regime.
3. Greatest sports Teds: Bronze-Lindsay Silver-Hendricks Gold-Williams
It’s May 1, and the Astros are turning heads—but not for the reasons anyone expected. Their resurgence, driven not by stars like Yordan Alvarez or Christian Walker, but by a cast of less-heralded names, is writing a strange and telling early-season story.
Christian Walker, brought in to add middle-of-the-order thump, has yet to resemble the feared hitter he was in Arizona. Forget the narrative of a slow starter—he’s never looked like this in April. Through March and April of 2025, he’s slashing a worrying .196/.277/.355 with a .632 OPS. Compare that to the same stretch in 2024, when he posted a .283 average, .496 slug, and a robust .890 OPS, and it becomes clear: this is something more than rust. Even in 2023, his April numbers (.248/.714 OPS) looked steadier.
What’s more troubling than the overall dip is when it’s happening. Walker is faltering in the biggest moments. With runners in scoring position, he’s hitting just .143 over 33 plate appearances, including 15 strikeouts. The struggles get even more glaring with two outs—.125 average, .188 slugging, and a .451 OPS in 19 such plate appearances. In “late and close” situations, when the pressure’s highest, he’s practically disappeared: 1-for-18 with a .056 average and a .167 OPS.
His patience has waned (only 9 walks so far, compared to 20 by this time last year), and for now, his presence in the lineup feels more like a placeholder than a pillar.
The contrast couldn’t be clearer when you look at José Altuve—long the engine of this franchise—who, in 2024, delivered in the moments Walker is now missing. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Altuve hit .275 with an .888 OPS. In late and close situations, he thrived with a .314 average and .854 OPS. That kind of situational excellence is missing from this 2025 squad—but someone else may yet step into that role.
And yet—the Astros are winning. Not because of Walker, but in spite of him.
Houston’s offense, in general, hasn’t lit up the leaderboard. Their team OPS ranks 23rd (.667), their slugging 25th (.357), and they sit just 22nd in runs scored (117). They’re 26th in doubles, a rare place for a team built on gap-to-gap damage.
But where there’s been light, it hasn’t come from the usual spots. Jeremy Peña, often overshadowed in a lineup full of stars, now boasts the team’s highest OPS at .791 (Isaac Paredes is second in OPS) and is flourishing in his new role as the leadoff hitter. Peña’s balance of speed, contact, aggression, and timely power has given Houston a surprising tone-setter at the top.
Even more surprising: four Astros currently have more home runs than Yordan Alvarez.
And then there’s the pitching—Houston’s anchor. The rotation and bullpen have been elite, ranking 5th in ERA (3.23), 1st in WHIP (1.08), and 4th in batting average against (.212). In a season where offense is lagging and clutch hits are rare, the arms have made all the difference.
For now, it’s the unexpected contributors keeping Houston afloat. Peña’s emergence. A rock-solid pitching staff. Role players stepping up in quiet but crucial ways. They’re not dominating, but they’re grinding—and in a sluggish AL West, that may be enough.
Walker still has time to find his swing. He showed some signs of life against Toronto and Detroit. If he does, the Astros could become dangerous. If he doesn’t, the turnaround we’re witnessing will be credited to a new cast of unlikely faces. And maybe, that’s the story that needed to be written.
We have so much more to discuss. Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday!
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