The first seven games of the season for the Astros were simply a disappointment. For some odd reason, the club has never seemingly performed well in Tropicana Field in Tampa while the series in Arlington was a bunch of strange. A 2-5 start was their reward.
The Astros needed a strong home stand to keep up with the red-hot Mariners. I know, it felt weird to write that sentence, but it is true. But the home stand was no easy task, especially as the two opponents — A’s and Yankees — won a combined 197 games in 2018.