Houston Astros Baseball

Let'sTake A Look At The Competition

So far this season, The Cubs appear to be front runners. Many sports analysts pick the cubs at least winning The NL Central and possibly going far into the playoffs. Also, the Cardinals and the mixture of Tony La Russa and pitching genius Dave Duncan they always have a shot, and this season proves that for them. The Cards were expected to be The Reds of recent years and putting up hardly a fight, but with the best hitter in baseball(Chew on that A-Rod), and pitching coach Duncan The Cards look to be the real deal. At least for now. Let's take a little closer look at these teams and how we stack up so far.

Standings

Team...............W/L.....Hm.....Rd.....NL C.

Chicago Cubs......29-19...19-8...10-11...18-13

St. Louis Cards...29-21...17-10...12-11...14-12

Houston Astros....28-22...14-8...14-14...10-7

First off, it's pretty easy to see that The Astros have gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to early home games. I bring this up for a couple reasons. 1) There is a reason why it's called home. A team normally performs better at their home, that's just the way it is. Thus The Cards and Cubs have had more games where statistically speaking they have better odds of winning. 2) Also, I believe that the early home games for The Cards have significantly helped their teams confidence. Going into this season, no one thought too much of The Cards. The fact that they having been playing alot of home games and because of this winning more, the team has a confidence they didn't have going into the season. That confidence really helps a team stay in games when behind, gives pitchers motivation to work just that much harder. Now, I am aware that in the end the schedules even out and The Astros will see their fair share of home games. These late home game may be a great help if we are contending for the playoffs, but my point is that it's possible that without these early plethora of home games for The Cards they may not have been looking at the playoffs at all.

Next, let's look at difficulty of schedule outside of where those games are played.

Team...............Over .500..........Under .500......(Series)

Chicago Cubs...........5..................12

St. Louis Cards........5..................12

Houston Astros.........10..................7

Clearly, not only have The Astros had to play more road games, but they have also had to play better teams at the same time. The fact that we were able to do this with a poor starting rotation and and seriously sub par Roy Oswalt is a testament to how good we have been playing.

Furthermore, The Cards have yet to play division leaders/contenders Marlins, D-Backs, and Phillies. All of which The Astros have played.

No Comment