Houston Astros Officially Have One of Strangest MLB Seasons
The 2023 season for the Houston Astros was an interesting one for more than one reason. While they made another ALCS, it wasn't as dominating as it typically was for the Astros. This is a team that dominated teams, but that wasn't the case for whatever reason in '23.
Maybe it was the injuries or maybe the decision to trade guys like Carlos Correa and George Springer caught up to them, but something was different. A 90-win season after winning 106 in 2022 is a significant difference, proving that this was arguably the worst Houston team in a few seasons.
The strange season landed them on The Athletics' weirdest and wildest teams of 2023, written by Jayson Stark.
Stark noted that this was the strangest but truest September from the Astros in a long time. When they played against the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks in September, the two teams who made the World Series, they went 6-0.
When Houston played against the Oakland A's and Kansas City Royals, two teams who finished 50-plus games below .500, they went 2-7 in September.
This was a strange sequence for the team and captured the weird year that they had.
As they look forward to the 2024 season, they have areas they need to improve. This is not the same Astros team that dominated baseball for most of the past decade. If they continue to let players walk and stay under the luxury tax, it's eventually going to catch up to them.
With the Rangers winning the World Series and willing to spend, they're a legitimate threat to end Houston's dynasty.
