MLB Power Rankings: Are the Astros just inevitable? Why Houston’s inconsistency might not matter after all

The Houston Astros are one of the most polarizing franchises in baseball these days. I think the Yankees will always be at the top there because even though they haven’t won the World Series since 2009 — an eternity for that spoiled fan base — pretty much every baseball fan either loves or loathes them. There’s no middle ground.

The Astros, though, certainly have a strong fan base in a relatively big market and now have tons of haters. The hate is two-fold. There’s the whole trash can-banging 2017 thing. There’s also the Astros making a deep playoff run every single year. Fans hate teams that have long, sustained runs of success that aren’t their own. We do it in every sport. We get tired of seeing the same team there — again, unless it’s ours — start rooting against them and before we know it, we hate that team. 

The Astros have been to the ALCS for seven straight seasons, a run that includes four AL pennants and two World Series titles. Of course legions of fans hate them. 

When the 2024 Astros started the season 12-24, it was amusing to see how many fans were taking great joy in it. This isn’t an insult. It was legitimately entertaining. 

Ding dong, the witch is dead!

Of course, the logical baseball fans out there knew just how much season was left. Sure enough, the Astros are like one of those horror movie villains who just never seem to die. They keep coming and coming. 

Since those first 36 games, the Astros are an MLB-best 65-42. They’ve been the best team in the AL in that stretch by a whopping seven games. They just got Kyle Tucker back in the lineup, too. 

Of course, recently, they aren’t winning quite as consistently as it might sound. They’ve lost four of six and are exactly .500 in their last 20 games. 

The Astros have been one of the most difficult teams to rank all season — and this season in particular has been hell in trying to rank the upper-tier teams — and that remains the case this week. They are maddeningly inconsistent, even when they are going well. 

Come October, though, the smart money is on them becoming one of those Voorhees-like villains. It’ll take absolutely everything you’ve got to knock them out and there will even be a few times they look dead and then spring back to life. 

Biggest Movers

Rk	Teams		Chg	Rcrd
1	Dodgers	Add Gavin Stone to the seemingly endless list of pitching injuries, and yet, the Dodgers are on pace to win 97 games. As Dodgers fans know all too well, though, their real season starts in October.	—	86-57
2	Phillies	Man, they are taking an absolute beating in that fifth starter spot. I guess the good news is you only need four in the playoffs.	—	85-58
3	Yankees	That’s now 12 games without a home run for Aaron Judge. He’s 8 for 43 (.186) with 17 strikeouts in that span.	1	82-61
4	Brewers	The Brewers are 2-5 in September. I wouldn’t worry much, though, Milwaukee. That NL Central lead is still nine and that leaves plenty of time to get back on track before October.	1	82-61
5	Orioles	Adley Rutschman is now hitting .197 with a .289 slugging percentage since the All-Star break.	—	82-62
6	Guardians	They did excellent work in getting that division lead up to 4 1/2 games but now it’s back down to 2 1/2. They can now do what great teams do and take care of business by sweeping the lowly White Sox in a three-game series that starts Monday.	—	81-62
7	Diamondbacks	Pavin Smith had three homers and eight RBI in the first five innings Sunday night. He had previously never even hit two homers in a game.	2	80-64
8	Padres	I’m officially concerned about Robert Suarez. He’s allowed at least one run in six of his last 13 outings. He has a 6.57 ERA and 1.62 WHIP in that time frame.	1	81-64
9	Mets	The nine-game winning streak ended on Sunday, but the Mets have been a better team than the Braves for quite a while. That last wild-card spot is there for the taking.	1	78-65
10	Royals	The only Royals to win the batting title are George Brett (three times) and Willie Wilson (1982). It hasn’t happened since Brett hit .329 to win the crown in 1990. Bobby Witt Jr. is only a few weeks away!	3	79-65
11	Astros	Even though the Astros are sputtering a bit now, I wouldn’t expect it to last long. Ten of their next 13 games are against either the A’s or Angels.	3	77-66
12	Braves	The season series against the Mets right now is tied, 5-5. The Braves host the Mets Sept. 24-26 in a three-game series that could well be the deciding factor on which team makes the playoffs.	1	78-65
13	Twins	The Twins have now lost 14 of 20.	1	76-67
14	Tigers	With a lackluster offense and a not-great rotation behind Tarik Skubal, one might wonder how Detroit continues to hang around .500. Having gone 9-1 against the White Sox so far certainly helps, but the Tigers also have an excellent bullpen. They rank sixth in bullpen ERA and second in bullpen WHIP.	1	73-71
15	Mariners	It’s probably too little, too late, but the Mariners have now won four of five. They’ve actually been scoring runs, too, putting at least six on the board in all four of those wins.	2	73-71
16	Cubs	They were a few outs from being 2 1/2 games out of the final wild-card spot, but then coughed up a three-run home run and lost four of five games.	2	73-70
17	Cardinals	Even if the playoffs are off the table — and that isn’t completely the case just yet — the Cardinals are still playing to avoid back-to-back losing seasons in non-shortened seasons for the first time since 1958-59. They have never had two straight losing seasons in a 162-game schedule.	1	72-71
18	Red Sox	They’ve lost 11 of 16 and two of their wins in there came against the White Sox. Hell of a time to just fall apart.	2	72-71
19	Rangers	It’s probably too little, too late, but the champs have won 10 of their last 13.	3	70-74
20	Rays	The only Rays to ever top 40 stolen bases in a season were Carl Crawford (seven times) and B.J. Upton (three times). Mallex Smith had exactly 40 steals in 2018. José Caballero right now has 39.	—	71-72
21	Giants	I made a comment last week about how good Matt Chapman has been this season and then mentioned his upcoming free agency. Two days later, the Giants signed him to a six-year extension. You’re welcome!	2	71-73
22	Reds	It’s a bummer that his stolen base pace fell off, as I was very much rooting for 100 steals or even 80. Still, Elly De La Cruz is one of only five players in history to top 20 homers and 60 steals in the same season, along with Ronald Acuña Jr., Ricky Henderson (three times), Eric Davis and Joe Morgan (twice).	1	69-75
23	Blue Jays	The Blue Jays haven’t finished in last place since 2013. They have a chance to catch either the Rays or Red Sox, but it seems as though they are headed that way.	2	68-76
24	Pirates	Andrew McCutchen is third in career hits among active players with 2,143. Today’s trivia question: Who does he trail? I’ll give the answer in the White Sox comment.	—	67-76
25	Nationals	C.J. Abrams is probably going to get there, as he has 18 home runs right now, but the Nationals currently have no 20-homer players. Previous full seasons in which the Nationals/Expos had no 20-homer players: 2008, 1991, 1976, 1975, 1972, 1971.	1	64-79
26	Athletics	The record looks bad overall, but the A’s were 50-112 last year and the gambling win total (aka “over/under”) heading into this season was 57.5. Knowing the background context, the 2024 season for the A’s on the field was a mild success.	1	62-82
27	Angels	From 2021-23, Brandon Drury had a 118 OPS+ and hit 58 homers in about two seasons worth of plate appearances. In 85 games this year, he’s hitting .167/.245/.221 with three homers. Just a remarkable case of falling apart in what should still be a prime year (age 31).	—	59-84
28	Marlins	Their next loss will be their 90th, meaning the Marlins will have lost at least 90 games in five of the last six full seasons. It’ll be their 13th 90-loss season in 32 MLB seasons. Of course, they also have two World Series titles.	—	54-89
29	Rockies	We’ve spoken many times about how the biggest offensive advantage of Coors Field isn’t power, but batting average, because the dimensions are so spacious and outfielders are forced to play so deep. Not only do the Rockies not have a single .300 hitter, but the team leader is hitting .274 (congrats, Brendan Rodgers!).	—	54-90
30	White Sox	Almost home! The White Sox are now nine losses away from the 1962 Mets. Trivia answer: Freddie Freeman and Jose Altuve.	—	33-111