2006 Houston Astros Predictions & Season Preview
Will our 2006 Houston Astros predictions show them getting hot at the right time like they did to finish the 2005 regular season? They ended up stealing the NL Wild Card and defeating conference rival St. Louis in the playoffs on their way to the World Series. Having to win to make the playoffs got the Astros playing great baseball and gave them good momentum heading into the postseason. It was a lack of bats that ultimately failed them, but their pitching staff sparkled throughout.
The Astros have started slow the past several seasons and have caught fire down the stretch. It has been just the opposite in 2005 as they have gotten out of the gates nicely which causes us to rethink some of our trends that have been very valuable in the past. They have struggled early on the past few years versus left handed pitching as they started last season going just 4-14 against lefties and just 1-11 on the road versus lefties. It would be wise to take a look at this team in the early going to see if a similar trend develops.
The Astros pitching staff has been the backbone of their team the last two seasons and last year they held opponents to a .246 batting average, which was the lowest in the major leagues. Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettitte, and Brandon Backe form a decent top three, but they will be anxiously awaiting to see if Roger Clemens is going to make his way back into an Astros uniform. If he does, the Astros would rival the Whitesox for the best staff in baseball. The bullpen has developed great talent over the years, and although Brad Lidge struggled in the playoffs, I’m expecting him to have a more than impressive season and could up his 42 saves last season to close to 50 in 2006.
Many sportswriter said that the Astros ran out of gas in the World Series when, in fact, they ran out of bats. They had a tough time trying to support their elite pitching staff all season long, and I don’t see big changes on the offensive end on the horizon. It really hurt this team to lose Beltran and Berkman’s numbers suffered slightly because of it as his 2005 stats were below his career averages. They don’t have a strong lineup, which forces them to rely too heavily on their pitching staff to pick up wins. Outside of Berkman, Morgan Ensberg is the only guy with any punch, after hitting .283 last season with 36 home runs and 101 RBIs. The Astros will need a revamped Berkman and another solid season from Ensberg to help push Houston through some tough spots this season.
The Astros derive quite a bit of betting attention playing in the same division as the Cardinals and Cubs and getting a lot of quality games against ace pitchers. And after a National League Pennant and a World Series Birth, I expect the public to look at the ’Stros even more. It will be important to make sure you are able to discern where the value really is when taking the Astros this season and not falling into the public’s trap.
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