With MLB Opening Day only 20 days away and spring training games steadily underway, baseball season is right around the corner. Over the next month, we will preview all 30 MLB teams for the 2020 season leading up to Opening Day on March 26th. Next up, the Houston Astros 2020 preview. Check out the preview for the Detroit Tigers here.
The Houston Astros finished 107-55 in 2019 before losing in Game 7 of the World Series on their home field to the Washington Nationals. While the Astros would like to move on to 2020 and attempt to make their third World Series in the past four years, they can’t. The Astros are in the midst of possibly the worst cheating scandal that baseball has ever seen. After the 2019 season concluded, the news broke that the Astros had been stealing signs during their 2017 World Series Championship season. To read more about the Astros cheating scandal, click here.
Cheating allegations aside, the Houston Astros are stacked. A lineup that includes Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, Michael Brantley, George Springer, and now Yordan Alvarez seems unfair. Altuve is a former MVP winner, while Correa and Alvarez have Rookie of the Year awards to their names. Add in a 2017 World Series MVP for George Springer, and the Astros have one of the most accomplished lineups in baseball.
Correa and Altuve will be looking to get back on track in 2020 as the former missed time with back and rib injuries and the latter had his worst statistical season since 2013. Alvarez will look to build on his monster 2019 where he slugged 27 home runs in only 369 plate appearances. He seems poised to remain in the middle of the Astros order for years to come.
The pitching staff is where the 2020 season will be won or lost for the Astros. The Astros still employ Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke, two of the top pitchers in the game today. They do not, however, employ Gerrit Cole anymore, as he signed a massive deal with the New York Yankees in the offseason. Cole is one of, if the not the, best pitcher in baseball and his presence at the top of the Astros rotation will be missed. The Astros also saw Wade Miley leave in free agency. Miley, who will be on his seventh team in 10 seasons in 2020, was putting together one of the best seasons of his career before a horrid September inflated his season stats. His consistency will be missed at the back of the Astros rotation.
Rather than sign players to replace those that departed in free agency, the Astros are looking within for replacements. Jose Urquidy was solid in seven starts as a rookie in 2019 and will be asked to fill a back end rotation spot. The biggest question mark will be Lance McCullers Jr. McCullers missed all of 2019 recovering from Tommy John Surgery and will be slotted into the third spot in the rotation behind Verlander and Greinke. If McCullers has a good season in his return from injury, it will go a long way towards the Astros winning another AL pennant. The bullpen lost two key pieces in Will Harris and Hector Rondon. A return to form from Chris Devinski will go a long way in alleviating the loss of Harris and Rondon.
Much of the Astros farm system has developed into the top tier talent that makes them serious World Series contenders. There is one more gem that the Astros seem to have found that could make his debut in 2020. Forrest Whitley is a 6’7″ starting pitcher with a heavy fastball, devastating changeup, and two power breaking balls. Like many pitchers of his size, he struggles with walks from time to time but if he can harness his command, Whitley could become the ace of the Astros pitching staff.
2020 is going to be a tough season for the Astros and their fans. Baseball is angry with the Astros and many pitchers are going to show their anger by hitting Astros hitters, a lot. The Astros are going to get terrorized on the road and their reactions to that will have an impact on how successful they can be in 2020. The Astros have all the talent in the world, and 2020 will show that the last three 100-win seasons were not a fluke. Expect another 100-win season from the Astros in 2020 and a serious run at another World Series title.
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