Houston Astros: Three reasons why team doesn’t need the best AL record
The Not Dead Yet Gang!
I know this is not a musical blog. But if you want to see a musical, go see Spamalot. It’s based on Monty Python’s Holy Grail. Here’s a clip of one of my favorite songs from the show.
In case you don’t know what’s happening, Sir Lancelot (Hank Azaria) is trying to deliver a dead body to Sir Robin (David Hyde Pierce). Except the dead body is not really dead. What happens next is total chaos.
Now why did I bring up this musical? For this reason. We all are Sir Lancelot and we’re trying to convince MLB (Sir Robin) that the Los Angeles Angels or Texas Rangers (Dead Men Walking) are dead and buried. But as of now, they are currently 3.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins.
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I’m not saying that if the Angels or Rangers get into the wild card, that we can’t beat them. We should be favored to beat them and move on the ALCS. But here’s where I’m coming from.
If the Angels or Rangers do reach the Wild Card, they’ll be tasked with playing either the Yankees or Red Sox in the Wild Card game. I don’t think either AL West team can beat either of baseball’s historic giants. But assuming they do, they’ll be tasked with trying to knock off the number one seed in the AL.
Theory Time
Let’s assume that we finish at number one. If we’re playing the Angels or Rangers, there is no guarantee we’ll beat them. Sure, we might have won more times against them, but likewise, playoffs are different. By this point, both teams would know us inside and out. Even with Justin Verlander added, they still know us. They know how to beat us and how to counter the offense and pitching.
Put Cleveland at number one, and they’ll have to deal with the wild card team. I think Cleveland can easily beat all three teams. But meanwhile, we would deal with a tougher team in Boston or New York. Should we beat either the Red Sox or Yankees and Cleveland is in the ALCS, we would have the edge in grinding out against a tough opponent that we have experience in winning battles against favorite teams.
It’s a risky thing to say. But at times, risky business leads to success. In other words, high-risk, high reward.
Next: Why the Houston Astros need the best AL record
Conclusion
At the end of the day, 10 teams — including the Houston Astros — will all say this is our year. Nine dreams will be crushed as eight teams will watch a best of seven with coverage beginning at six. The journey starts from a best of five to four wins away from three out innings between two teams in one World Series. (See what I did there?)
While it would be nice for the Houston Astros to finish as the top seed in the American League, we need to prepare for a tough month of October. This will be the hardest October in franchise history since 2005. That season saw us with nothing to lose. But with so much expectation and better talent than in 2005, we are in for the ride of our lives.