What a weekend it could have been. The Astros had an opportunity to take the series from the Seattle Mariners on Sunday, but the bullpen once again let the team down. A different day, but the same old story.

Bryan Abreu and Josh Hader both allowed runs late in the game, and the Astros' offense wasn't able to pick them up. Bullpen struggles and an inability to hit with runners in scoring position have been the two main factors haunting the club in 2024.

Houston now heads to New York to face the Yankees sitting 10 games under .500. This will be an important stretch for the Astros as one quarter of the season will be in the books next week.

While there are 128 more games to play, if things don't change soon, this team could be in real trouble. There are clubs we can point to that got off to a worse start than this version of the Astros and still won a World Series. Houston fans certainly remember the 2019 Washington Nationals, who got off to a terrible start and won a championship.

But you know you're in a bad spot when you're having to point to outliers like the 2019 Nationals to keep hope alive. However, there is one more factor giving us hope for this season. Everything has seemingly gone wrong for the 'Stros this year. Perhaps if they can get on a roll, momentum will snowball in the other direction.

They certainly have the talent on this roster to do it. But it needs to happen soon before they dig themselves a hole they can no longer get out of.

Don't miss the video above as we discuss who has to step up for the Astros to right the ship before the point of no return.

Catch Stone Cold 'Stros (an Astros podcast) with Charlie Pallilo, Brandon Strange, and Josh Jordan every Monday on SportsMapHouston's YouTube channel! We'll continue to drop more episodes throughout the week.