BRING ON THE WHITE SOX
Here's how the Astros clinched their fourth division title in five years
Oct 1, 2021, 3:57 pm
The Astros were led by a powerhouse offense this year. Composite image by Jack Brame.
3 reasons the Houston Astros newest lineup is raising eyebrows
For the 4th time in five years, the Astros have clinched the American League West division title and are set to play the Chicago White Sox in the A.L. Division Series.
Houston went 5-2 against the White Sox this year, and will play them in the playoffs for the first time since the two teams met in the 2005 World Series.
The Astros look to have home-field advantage for the ALDS and need to win one more game to make this a reality.
As many of us start to look ahead to the postseason, let's revisit how the Astros got to this point.
This season has been an adventure to say the least. Over the offseason, the Astros lost their long-time leadoff hitter George Springer to the Toronto Blue Jays, and saw their ace pitcher Justin Verlander get Tommy John surgery in 2020. Replacing these two would be no easy task, but the Astros were able to become one of the best teams in the American League.
The club did not have any outright replacements for the aforementioned duo, but they were able to stay competitive with some players having career years, and others stepping up their game.
As usual, the Astros were led by a powerhouse offense this year. When healthy, the "Magnificent Seven" consisted of Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Michael Brantley, Yordan Alvarez, Yuli Gurriel, Kyle Tucker and Carlos Correa.
Gurriel and Tucker both had career years at the plate, and the former may receive the American League batting title on Sunday.
Other players such as Atluve, Correa and Brantley had consistent seasons at the plate, and Alvarez has been one of the best designated hitters in baseball.
Alex Bregman missed nearly half of the year with a quad injury, but since his return to the lineup, he is hitting .282 at the plate and is providing great offense at the top of the batting order.
This season, the Astros are second in baseball in runs scored per game, while also having the game's lowest team strikeout rate.
This offense could compete with anyone in the playoffs.
Houston also has a top-five pitching staff by runs allowed per game and team ERA.
Lance McCullers Jr. had his best season on the mound and could receive some last minute Cy-Young votes after his tremendous August and September. Barring something unforeseen, McCullers will be the Astros Game 1 starter on Thursday against the White Sox.
The Game 2 starter would most likely be Framber Valdez. He has an 11-5 record with a 2.98 ERA. The remaining two spots could be up in the air between the remaining four Astros' pitchers.
Luis Garcia is firmly in the Rookie of the Year mix after starting the season as a spot starter. The 24-year-old earned his way into the starting rotation and never left. He will be a great addition to the Astros' playoff rotation and would be a great pitcher to start Game 3.
The final spot could go to Zack Greinke, Jose Urquidy or Jake Odorizzi. Greinke has struggled as of late, but could be a back to his old self in time for the postseason. Urquidy and Odorizzi could come out of the bullpen for the postseason as insurance. It's never a bad thing to have too much pitching in the postseason.
This Astros team is one of the best in baseball and looks to make another deep run in the 2021 postseason.
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Astros betting big on their biggest advantage tonight
Jul 8, 2025, 12:03 pm
Adding a player of Kevin Durant’s caliber was too valuable an opportunity for the Houston Rockets to pass up, even though it meant moving on from Jalen Green just four seasons after they drafted him second overall.
Durant was officially acquired from Phoenix on Sunday in a complicated seven-team transaction that sent Green and Dillon Brooks to the Suns and brought Clint Capela back to Houston from the Hawks.
General manager Rafael Stone is thrilled to add the future Hall of Famer, who will turn 37 in September, to a team which made a huge leap last season to earn the second seed in the Western Conference.
Asked Monday why he wanted to add Durant to the team, Stone smiled broadly before answering.
“He’s Kevin Durant,” Stone said. “He’s just — he’s really good. He’s super-efficient. He had a great year last year. He’s obviously not 30 anymore, but he hasn’t really fallen off and we just think he has a chance to really be impactful for us.”
But trading Green to get him was not an easy decision for Stone, Houston’s general manager since 2020.
“Jalen’s awesome, he did everything we asked,” Stone said. “He’s a wonderful combination of talent and work ethic along with being just a great human being. And any time that you have the privilege to work with someone who is talented and works really hard and is really nice, you should value it. And organizationally we’ve valued him tremendously, so yeah very hard.”
Green was criticized for his up-and-down play during the postseason when the Rockets were eliminated by the Warriors in seven games in the first round. But Green had improved in each of his four seasons in Houston, leading the team in scoring last season and playing all 82 games in both of the past two seasons.
Pressed for details about why Green's time was up in Houston, Stone wouldn't get into specifics.
“It’s the NBA and you can only do trades if a certain amount of money goes out and a certain amount comes in and there’s some positional overlap or at least overlap in terms of on ball presence,” he said. “And so that’s what the deal required.”
In Durant, the Rockets get a veteran of almost two decades who averaged 26.6 points and six rebounds a game last season and has a career average of 27.2 points and seven rebounds.
Houston loves the veteran experience and presence that Durant brings. Stone noted that the team had arranged for some of its players to work out with him in each of the past two offseasons.
“His work ethic is just awesome,” Stone said. “The speed at which he goes, not in a game … but the speed at which he practices and the intensity at which he practices is something that has made him great over the years and it started when he was very young. So of all the things that I hope rubs off, that’s the main one I think is that practice makes perfect. And I think one of the reasons he’s had such an excellent career is because of the intensity with which he works day in day out.”
Durant is a 15-time All-Star and four-time scoring champion, who was the Finals MVP twice. The former Texas Longhorn is one of eight players in NBA history to score at least 30,000 points and he won NBA titles in 2017 and 2018 with the Warriors.
Now he’ll join a team chasing its first NBA title since winning back-to-back championships in 1994-95.
“Everything has to play out, but we do — we like the fit,” Stone said. “We think it works well. We think he will add to us and we think we will help him.”