If the Astros are going to get back into this Wild Card chase, they need to beat bad teams... well, they did that against the Reds, sweeping the 4 game series and need to do that again this week, starting with a 4 game series against the Giants. A lot of people think the Astros have no chance to get back into the Wild Card... I am one to disagree with that assessment. (don't get me wrong... it's a long shot at best)The Astros have 45 games left this season and sit 8 1/2 games out of the Wild Card race... The Brewers are 8 1/2 games ahead of us and the Cardinals are 5 1/2 games ahead of us. I am pretty confident that when all things are said and done... we are at least ahead of the Cardinals. Now the Brewers on the other hand... that's going to be a tough one.
Now for the Astros gaining the Wild Card Crown... like I said, 45 games which equals to about 7 more weeks of baseball. Let's simplify this some... 7 weeks, 8 1/2 games behind... that's just over 1 game / week that we need to gain on the Brewers to get in a race for the Wild Card. Shouldn't be too hard right?... right?? Well... we'll see. The Astros have been playing very good baseball lately(8-2 out of the last 10), but then again... the Brewers have as well(8-2 out of the last 10). But stranger things have happened... The Astros could continue to stay hot and win another 4-5 games in a row and the Brewers could hit a drought and lose 4 or 5 in a row... all it would take is one bad stretch for them, and a good stretch for us and we could be back in this.
The Brewers start a 3 game series tomorrow(they beat the Nat's today to finish a 4 game sweep) in San Diego after just sweeping the Nationals out of town in a 4 game series. The Astros start a 4 game series tonight at home against the Giants, after just going into Cincy and sweeping the Reds in a 4 game series. After the Padres, the Brewers have a 3 game series against the Dodgers and then go home to face us in a 3 game series. The Dodgers are much better now than they have been all season(the Manny Ramirez factor) and I'm calling for the Dodgers to win the NL west... so I think the Dodgers have a very good chance at beating the Brewers 2 out of 3 games. The Astros should be able to at least win the next 2 series(I consider the Astros a better team than the D-backs)... So out of the next 7 games for the Astros, I expect us to come out of it with at least 5-2 record. I think the Brewers will win the series against the Padres(winning 2 out of 3) and then lose the series against the dodgers(winning 1 of 3). That puts the Astros with a 5-2 record in the 7 games before facing the Brewers, and the brewers at a 4-3 record in the last 7 games before facing us.
That would be 1 game off the 8 1/2 that the Astros need to make up with the Brewers... 1 Week... 1 game off the lead... that's about all it's going to take for us to get back into this.
Pretty simple aye?