Astros Slugger Yordan Alvarez Named Top X-Factor in MLB Down Stretch

With the return of their slugging designated hitter, can the Houston Astros go on a run to the World Series?

Apr 26, 2024; Mexico City, Mexico; A banner with the Houston Astros logo at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros have dealt with an absurd run of injury issues throughout the 2025 season, both in terms of the quantity of high-levels players lost and the length of time they've gone without those stars.

Starting pitchers Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, Ronel Blanco, Spencer Arrighetti, Hayden Wesneski Lance McCullers Jr. have either missed massive stretches or are lost for the entire season. Star closer Josh Hader is on the shelf, as is slugging third baseman Isaac Paredes.

But perhaps no absence has been more impactful than that of Yordan Alvarez, who missed most of the season with a frustrating hand issue before his long-awaited return to the Astros' lineup for this week's series against the Colorado Rockies.

After struggling in April before landing on the injured list, Alvarez is 1-for-4 with a home run, five walks drawn, two runs batted in and two runs scored in his return. Even just two full games into his return, his impact on the game and in this team's struggling lineup has been felt strongly.

MLB Analyst Mark DeRosa Tabs Yordan Alvarez as X-Factor

Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

If Houston is going to continue to hold off the Seattle Mariners in the race for first place in the American League West division, and if they're going to go on a memorable run in the playoffs in October, Alvarez is going to have to stay in the lineup and be a big part of it.

MLB Network analyst Mark DeRosa feels the same way, as in a segment that aired on Friday morning, he tabbed the Astros' Cuban slugger as the No. 1 X-Factor in all of MLB down the stretch.

DeRo has five X-Factors that will make all the difference for these five contenders down the stretch 👀🔥 pic.twitter.com/DtUm0UJwiP

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) August 29, 2025

"But number one, no other team will add a top five back back from injury than [the Houston Astros]," DeRosa said. "Yordan Alvarez, when healthy, is one of the game's elite hitters. You're putting him on a team that has fought so hard to give you a chance at another AL West. He owes it to the boys in that locker room to go scorched earth for them."

If he's going to do that, he'll have to find a different level from the one at which he played before being sidelined. The early returns are encouraging, but April was decidedly un-Alvarez-like. His OPS at a lowly .646, and he had clubbed just three home runs in his first 100 at-bats.

Everyone knows how impactful he can be on a playoff run, and there's little reason to believe he won't find that form again down the stretch. In 2023, he posted a jaw-dropping 1.487 OPS to get Houston to the ALCS and nearly to the World Series, and despite less stellar overall numbers on the World Series run in 2022, he came through when it mattered most with an iconic home run in the decisive win over the Philadelphia Phillies.