Those schedule-watching naysayers who graded the Orioles’ second-half schedule as MLB’s hardest? It’s in part because of stuff like this: the Orioles haven’t faced the Houston Astros once in 2022, but now they’re set to meet up for seven games in the span of a month.
At 81-45, Houston is the best team in the AL right now. That’s partly thanks to New York’s 7-14 August slump, but the Astros are plenty deserving of their success, with the AL’s third-best OPS and the best ERA. A 39-year-old post-Tommy John surgery Justin Verlander is having the best season of his career, at 16-3 with a 1.