Matt SullivanWed, April 29, 2026 at 8:08 PM UTC·2 min readAstros get brutal reality check from ESPN's Jeff Passan on 2026 season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Houston Astros are off to a very poor start to the 2026 MLB season, as they're 11-19, the worst record in the American League, and third-worst in all of baseball.
If it weren't for the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets' struggles, the Astros might be the biggest disappointment of the season so far. While the offense is elite (154 runs scored through 30 games), their pitching staff is horrendous (179 runs allowed).
With ESPN's Jeff Passan analyzing the Astros odds to turn things around this season, he gave the Astros a brutal reality check, simply stating that "No," the Astros cannot fix their issues this season.
"Can they fix it? No," Passan writes. "Even if Hunter Brown, Josh Hader, and Christian Javier return from arm injuries, it won't be until late May at the earliest, and by then the Astros will have suffered through two months of rough pitching. It's one thing to dig a hole. It's another to bury yourself."
Houston's offense, led by Yordan Alvarez, is elite this season. But their pitching staff and defense are just too bad to overcome offensively.
"Their defensive range is straight-up bad," Passan writes. "When you cannot throw the ball or catch the ball, you tend to give up more runs than you score, even with a good offense."
Houston, allowing 179 runs this season, is the most in the American League by quite a bit, and tied with the Washington Nationals, a rebuilding team, for most in the entire league.
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No matter how well Alvarez, Cam Smith, Isaac Paredes, Jose Altuve, and the rest of the offense hit, they cannot keep up with such poor pitching and defense.
Hunter Brown, Tatsuya Imai, Cristian Javier, and Josh Hader are all on the injured list. Bryan Abreu has a 12.96 ERA, Michael Burrows a 6.25 ERA, Lance McCullers a 6.75 ERA, and the overall team ERA is a brutal 5.96.
Houston's defense and pitching staff are going to hold this team back, and Passan has no belief there's a fix coming for this team. The injured pitchers can't heal faster, and if they return as soon as they realistically can, things will already be over.
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