A look ahead at the team that's surprisingly at the bottom of the American League West
Coming into this season, I thought of the Houston Astros as "Cubs-light". They're a team that built from within while spending many years at the bottom of the standings and the top of the draft. Then, things finally clicked in 2015 and a competitive young team emerged from the ashes to grab a Wild Card slot. The Cubs have the superior core group of players, but the rise of the Astros followed a similar blueprint.
En route to the Astros sniffing the playoffs for the first time since losing to the Chicago White Sox in the 2005 World Series, the Astros received quite a few breakout performances to improve by 16 wins over their 70-92 record from 2014.