Regardless of the final result last year, the Astros will need to play well in 2018. Yes, that sounds the obvious statement of the day. As we all know, a hangover to any defending champion can derail plans to repeat. A strong start, though, would go a long way to avoid such a treacherous journey.
Following their historic 2016 season that culminated in a World Series championship, the Chicago Cubs experienced a bit of hangover. In their first 88 games, the Cubs were underachieving with a 43-45 record.
However, the second half was much kinder to Chicago as the Cubs went 49-25 over the last 74 games.