The Pallilog
Charlie Pallilo: Astros, Yankees and Red Sox are on historic pace
Jun 22, 2018, 6:48 am
Jose Altuve and the Astros are on a roll. Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
It should be a tremendous summer-long race among the Astros, Red Sox, and Yankees to see who winds up with the best record in Major League Baseball. The Mariners are showing that while plucky, they are just not good enough to keep up with a pace looking more and more likely to produce an unprecedented three teams in the same league with 100 or more wins in the same season. Only six times have three teams between the American and National Leagues won 100+. The Dodgers, Indians, and Astros did it last year. The Astros should again cruise to the AL West title while the Yanks and Bosox slug it out trying to avoid facing one game elimination via the Wild Card game.
Before 1995 there were no Wild Cards. 1993 was the last postseason before the Wild Card (the 1994 strike forced cancellation of the playoffs). The Giants finished 103-59 and got nothing for it, finishing one game behind the Braves in the NL West. Before 1969 there were no Divisions meaning you either won the pennant and went to the World Series, or you went home. The 1942 Dodgers finished 104-50, two games behind the Cardinals.
Little big man
On May 14 Jose Altuve was one out away from seeing his batting average dip below .300. He singled in his last at bat that day to keep his average above his personal Mendoza Line (in the 70s there was a crappy hitter named Mario Mendoza whose batting averages over five straight seasons were .180, .185, .198, .218, and .198. So .200 became a reference line for awful hitting). In 33 games played since that hit Altuve is batting .403 with an OPS of 1.078. Last year Altuve won his third American League batting title and first AL MVP award with a batting average of .346. He starts the weekend at .347. Context alert: Altuve is astoundingly good, pretty much on top of his game (still down a little overall from last season), and on a clear Hall of Fame track. His OPS this season is closer to waaaaay over the hill Albert Pujols’s than it is to Mike Trout’s.
Draft stock falling?
The NBA Draft just isn’t as big a deal as it used to be. It’s still hugely important and will produce All-Stars and probably Hall of Famers. It’s just reality that with the top selections dominated by one and done college freshmen the players are much lesser known, are more boys than NBA men, and with few exceptions are ill-equipped to enter the league and be standouts early on.
Judging it from the greatest players in the class, the 1984 NBA Draft has to be considered the best ever. How about four-fifths of a starting lineup comprised of John Stockton, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Hakeem Olajuwon. We need a small forward for that quintet so the nod goes to second round pick, the late Jerome Kersey. All of those guys played at least three years of college basketball.
Another mention-worthy draft class, especially since generously Rocket-tinted, the class of 1970. Your starting five : Nate Archibald, Pete Maravich, Rudy Tomjanovich, Dave Cowens, and Bob Lanier. For a sixth man how about Calvin Murphy? Rudy-T is the only one of those six not in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Rudy’s non-election remains an annual disgrace.
Top of the list
Picking first overall for the first time in their franchise history the Phoenix Suns hope they got a franchise center in DeAndre Ayton out of Arizona. His career production probably comes in somewhere between that of Olajuwon and Michael Olowokandi. Back in 1969 the Suns could have had the number 1 pick, but they lost a coin flip for it to the Milwaukee Bucks. At number two the Suns took center Neal Walk, who had a few solid seasons. But the grand prize the Suns lost out on was Lew Alcindor, soon to become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Suns still have yet to win an NBA Championship. Kareem won six.
In 1983 the Rockets won the coin flip that got them Ralph Sampson. The second pick was Steve Stipanovich. The next year the Rockets won the flip again and took Olajuwon. Portland made Sam Bowie the second selection. Pick three, Michael Jordan. Trail Blazers fans who were alive back then, are sick about that to this day. Portland has blazed no championship trail since. Jordan won six.
The next year, the NBA ditched the coin flip system for the draft lottery.
Buzzer Beaters
1. Lame as Dwight Howard’s career arc has become, if Dikembe Mutombo was deemed Hall of Fame material, then isn’t Howard? 2. The World Cup means more globally than any other sporting event. But soccer simply has too many ties and 1-0 games to ever really breakout as a mainstream sport here. 3. Best “Summer” songs: Bronze-DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince “Summertime” Silver-Bananarama “Cruel Summer” Gold-Don Henley “Boys of Summer”
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How Houston Texans' defense now measures up to other NFL powerhouses
Mar 14, 2025, 2:22 pm
We’re inside two weeks to the Astros starting their regular season (Yes!), but the NFL hogged this week of the pro sports scene with its annual spend like drunken sailors shopping spree via free agency. The Texans’ activity has been interesting on both the free agent and trade fronts. Let’s dig in.
Let’s start with their Tunsil-ectomy. Laremy Tunsil was a very good though not superstar left tackle here. His embarrassing number of false starts notwithstanding, Tunsil was consistently their best pass protector. That might not be saying much relative to the rest of the offensive line, but it is not meant as damning with faint praise. Pro Bowl selections can come from reputation or flat-out bad voting, but being named a Pro Bowler five times in six seasons is at least a good indicator a guy doesn’t stink. Still, had he remained, Tunsil’s salary cap figure would have been a bloated 28 and a half million dollars. Getting second and third round draft picks from the Washington Commanders for Tunsil is a good return, though it is also telling that the Texans were willing to absorb 15 million dollars in dead salary cap space to offload him.
Cutting guard Shaq Mason costs the Texans another 12 and a half mil in dead cap space, a little over five million of that swallowed this year with the balance wasted in 2026. Nick Caserio signed Tunsil and Mason to the contract extensions the Texans ultimately chose to escape from early. Caserio’s first first round pick in charge was guard Kenyon Green, whose time with the Texans was an absolute flop. Dealing Green this week to the Super Bowl Champion Eagles for safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson is an absolute win, almost regardless of how Gardner-Johnson performs here. “CGJ” joins Jalen Pitre and Calen Bullock in giving the Texans three talented safeties all 27 years old or younger. Back to the o-line. Two years in, former second round pick Juice Scruggs is a middling player at best. Off an undistinguished rookie season as a second rounder also, Blake Fisher has a prove himself season coming with the right tackle job seemingly being handed to him.
Tytus Howard presumably slots as the new left tackle. Season-to-season he has never been as good as Tunsil. At over 23 million dollars, Howard presently carries the second-biggest cap figure on the team, behind only Danielle Hunter. One guard spot in 2025 goes to value free agent signee Laken Tomlinson. Summing him up in one word, Tomlinson is middling. In another word he is durable. The 33-year-old Tomlinson has started every game for seven consecutive seasons. The downside is he’s just not that great. Hence the Texans get him on a one-year contract for four and a quarter mil. Yet, if Tomlinson can be an average starting guard that will be a substantial upgrade from their guard play in 2024. That leaves center and the other guard spot to sort through. Scruggs and Jarrett Patterson are still around. Caserio took a flier in trading a 2026 sixth round pick to Minnesota for guard Ed Ingram. After starting for two and a half seasons, a healthy Ingram was benched and didn’t play one snap apart from special teams in the Vikings’ last nine games. Ingram is only 26 years old and in the final season of his rookie contract. Again, he doesn’t need to be confused with prime-Mike Munchak to be able to improve the Texans at least incrementally.
Add it all up and Caserio has not done a good job where the o-line is concerned. His in-season remarks bleating about a “lazy narrative” from the media re: the weakness of that line were condescending and/or mistaken at the time, and now register as flat out ridiculous. The offensive coordinator and offensive line coach have been fired, three of the season-opening starting o-linemen have been jettisoned. With all of the changes, all offensive line problems going forward should be pinned squarely on Caserio. I think C.J. Stroud would agree.
Doubling down on defense
The Texans’ other free agent moves have been depth plays, most notably on the defensive line, re-signing defensive linemen Mario Edwards Jr., Derek Barnett, and Kurt Hinish, adding Darrell Taylor, and bringing back 2023 starter Sheldon Rankins after he had an injury-hindered 2024 with Cincinnati. The wide receiver room needed work. Stefon Diggs is probably gone, unfortunately Tank Dell is a question mark to play much at all in 2025. None among Robert Woods, John Metchie, and Xavier Hutchinson should be automatics for roster spots. The trade for Christian Kirk from Jacksonville adds a speed component at wideout. Maybe Justin Watson from Kansas City has sleeper contributor potential. Over the last two seasons with the Chiefs Watson caught 49 passes, five for touchdowns.
The next heavy lifting for the Texans comes with the NFL Draft, which starts April 24. The Texans have the 25th pick in the first round. Pending any other free agent moves of note, offensive line and wide receiver should remain top priorities.
Closing in on Opening Day, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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