It’s fun to talk about the “new look” of the Astros’ offense. But if you focus your attention on the offense, you probably miss the component which may be most critical for the Astros returning to the playoffs: the starting pitching.
Why do I say that? By most measures, the 2025 offense is likely to be slightly worse than 2024. The Astros lost Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker, but the team did a decent job of compensating for the loss by adding Christian Walker and Isaac Paredes. It’s questionable whether these moves completely compensate for the offensive losses, particularly given question marks in the outfield and at second base.