Houston Astros: Final Week Round Up: The Photo Finish

The Houston Astros finish out the final week of the season nearly perfectly. Now, they have their sights set on Game 1 of the playoffs!

Two weeks removed from clinching the AL West Division, the Houston Astros were eyeing retaking the best overall American League record back from the Cleveland Indians. Unfortunately, the loss on Saturday to the Boston Red Sox sealed that for them.

However, that was the only bad news from the final week of the regular season. A sweep in Arlington of the Texas Rangers coupled with a 3 out of 4 victory over the BoSox in Fenway has put the spacemen in a very comfortable position. 101 wins!

This is something that the team has not done since 1998. Additionally, those same Red Sox will be the Astros first opponent to face in the American League Division Series. Fans in H-Town just might get sick of the boys from Bean Town after a while.

The first playoff series promises to be a competitive, but exciting one. Chris Sale will be on the opposing mound to face the Astros’ stellar offense. Justin Verlander is likely to complement him from the home side. Even though pitching wins championships, the bats will have more than a thing or two to say about that!

Here are some of the other news and highlights from the final week of the regular season for the Houston Astros:

The Final Cut

Being the big Pink Floyd fan that I am, the title of their 1983 album makes sense for this portion of the article. That is to say, it begs the question of exactly who will make the 25 man post season roster. I made some of my own predictions back last week, but who will A.J. Hinch choose?

More from House of Houston

After the final regular season game Sunday, he announced that the revelation will happen on Tuesday, when the entire team is together for final workouts leading up to Thursday’s first playoff game.

Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reported just yesterday that the team has until Wednesday night to submit the 25 man post season roster. This means he, very likely, will not announce the game 1 starting pitcher until that time as well.

The entire pitching staff have all gone on record saying that they are ready for whatever role they are assigned. That is, of course, determinant on who actually makes it.

Deadliest Catch!

Along with the pitching staff, the position players will be waiting in just as much anticipation to see who will be playing in October. Tyler White and Tony Kemp look to battle it out for the final bat. Josh Reddick‘s recent back troubles complicate matters. Though the team is confident he will be back for the playoffs, you can never be too careful.

One thing that has been made known is Hinch’s desire to carry a third catcher. Brian McCann and Evan Gattis are already locks to make the post season roster. Carlos Beltran is as well, but his dismal 2017 numbers may reduce him to more of a bench role come October.

Because of this, Gattis may be seeing more of the lion’s share of DH time, especially against left-handed pitchers like Sale. This will require another catcher to be on board in the event of injury or late inning situations. Both AAA catchers, Juan Centeno and Max Stassi, are vying for that spot.

Our colleagues over at Climbing Tal’s Hill did their own assessment of this recently. Centeno definitely has more experience and defensive upside. However, Stassi does carry a much improved bat. Talk about a nice dilemma to have right?

Next: 2017 Postseason Roster Predictions

Regardless of who makes it on Tuesday or not, all of these guys should be proud of themselves. Both individually and as a team, they have come very far, and will keep going far into the playoffs. All I can say is, bring H-Town a world title, fellas!

GO HOUSTON ASTROS! #HOUSTONSTRONG!

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