The Houston Astros are duking it out with the Oakland Athletics for the title of the AL West division champs. Because of this, it appears that the Astros are worse off than they were last year in 2017. But, prior to last night’s game, the Astros actually had the same record as last year, 86-53.
So, this has everything to do with how good the A’s have been and nothing to do with the Astros being “worse” than last year. At this point last year, the Astros had a 13.5 game lead in the division, this year they only have a 3.