84 Billion Eats → Prospects Are Dry Finished the best 8 years in club history...Is it a bleak future or a storm of reinvestment
Sep 29, 2025
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The dream of advancing to the postseason for the ninth consecutive year has been frustrated. It is overshadowed by the New York Mets, who signed Juan Soto and crashed while racing to the top of the league, but Houston's decline this year was also overwhelming.
It is the first failure to advance to the postseason in nine years since 2016 and the first failure to win the district championship in five years. According to the U.S. baseball statistics website FanGraphs, Houston's probability of fall baseball reached a whopping 98.3% as of July 6. On the 18th (hereinafter referred to as Korean time), it reached 93.7%.
However, all these statistical reasons have come to nothing. What twisted his fate was the great strides of the Seattle Mariners, who defeated Houston in the American League West.
Despite the aging of the main players and the loss of honor due to the 'treaty scandal', he has maintained a steady performance. However, he gave up the district championship to Seattle with Cal Lally, who had the catcher-switch heater's first 60 home runs. It was crucial to be swept in the three consecutive games against Seattle, which was tied for first place in the district from the 19th to the 21st.
In the process of the last wild-card battle, it was recorded as a season that literally collapsed after allowing Mike Trout a multi-homer game against the Los Angeles Angels on the 27th.
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However, the season out of Ronel Blanco, who played as an ace last year, and the injury of key hitters such as Jordan Alvarez, Isaac Paredes, and Jeremy Peña became a catalyst for the team's performance. Christian Walker, who was hired for three years and $60 million (about 84 billion won) ahead of this season, hit 27 home runs, but was sluggish with an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of 0.718.
Franchise star Jose Altuve also had only 26 home runs and an OPS of 0.771, making it inevitable to worry about his age. This is why Carlos Correa made a comeback during the season and gained momentum, but it did not continue until the end of the season.
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What is the future of Houston. Framber Valdez, who served as an ace by filling the blank of Blanco this year, will also be released as an FA this winter. Walker and Correa are desperately needed in the lineup, and Valdez's vacancy should be filled by recruiting FA in the pitching staff.
Houston general manager Dana Brown told the Houston Chronicle, `I'll review the changes in the offseason squad. I'll show you a twist next year", he expressed his will. Correa also said through local media such as The Athletic that `I regret the sluggishness this year. I promise you that next year will be a memorable year for the fans", vowing to rebound.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
