Royals' Head to Houston for Series against Playoff Hopeful Astros: Stats and Trends to Keep an Eye on
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As the season winds down for the Royals, they will look to play spoiler to some teams, including the Astros, whom they will face next. The Royals will look to win their first series of September against the AL West leaders. The Astros need to finish strong as they only have a one-game lead in their division, so here are the probable starters as well as stats and trends to keep an eye on in the series.
Probable Starters
Game One: Michael Wacha (9-8, 3.25 ERA) vs. Hunter Brown (5-3, 3.52 ERA)
Game Two: Daniel Lynch IV (5-5, 3.52 ERA) vs. Cristian Javier (2-5, 5.50 ERA)
Game Three: Seth Lugo (7-8, 4.99 ERA) vs. Not announced
Michael Wacha Putting Finishing Touches on Best Season as a Royal
In what has been a stellar free-agent signing, Michael Wacha is turning in yet another great season with the Royals. With potentially three more starts left this season, Wacha looks to finish strong and continue his recent hot stretch. Over his past four starts, he has an ERA of 1.33, 27 Ks, 0.85 WHIP, and four quality starts. His only "bad" start was against the Marlins, where he gave up three earned runs.
Standing in his way is a team he has dominated before: the Houston Astros. In five appearances against them, Wacha is 2-0 with a 2.55 ERA. In 2025, he had two outings against them in which he went 14.2 innings, allowing two earned runs. Despite the surface numbers, however, Astros bats do see him well, as Isaac Paredes, Christian Walker, Christian Vazquez, and Yordan Alvarez all have OPS over .900 against Wacha.
Another thing to keep an eye on with Wacha is his inning count as he could reach the 200 innings pitched threshold if he continues pitching well to end the year.
Probable AL MVP Looks to Secure a Series for Astros
Yordan Alvarez is putting together an outstanding 2026 as he has an outside chance of getting the AL triple crown. He leads the AL in batting average, is second behind Junior Caminero in home runs, and third in RBIs with 95. With that chance to win the Triple Crown, he gets a good opponent to build upon it as he mashes Royals pitching.
Against the Royals, Alvarez has an OPS of 1.191 in 152 plate appearances and has crushed just about every starter in the current Royals rotation. The only starter Alvarez hasn't hit in the Royals rotation is Daniel Lynch IV, as he is 0-for-5 against the southpaw. Expect Alvarez to continue what he does best: hit the ball hard, walk, and be a pain for Royals pitching.
Bobby Witt Jr. is having an unlucky stretch in September
The subheader could describe BWJ's full season, but in September, that luck has been rotten. He isn't playing bad, as he is slashing .227/.352/.409 for an OPS of .761. The issue is that he is hitting the ball hard with an average exit velocity of 92.7 mph in September, but has a BABIP of .242. In the series against the Red Sox, he went 2-for-14 with an average exit velocity of 99.2 mph, although he did strike out five times in that series.
While the luck isn't going his way so far in the final stretch, the underlying numbers show that it should change at some point. If that luck does change, BWJ could reach the 7.0 WAR threshold to make it three straight seasons of doing so.
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Trey is no stranger to writing about the Royals as he has done it for 6 years now for various blogs (Kings of Kauffman, Inside The Royals, and Farm to Fountains). He is a graduate of Baker University with a degree in Mass Media with an emphasis in sports media. He enjoys watching and researching sports as well as gaming.
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