- 1 day ago
The Astros sit atop a tight AL West, but ITL asks how much winning a struggling division would actually change how you feel about the organization and where it stands going forward.
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00:00You said that's not a compliment.
00:01How does winning the AL West in the year of our Lord 2026 sound?
00:05It's not a compliment.
00:06Okay.
00:06That is a great – you know, you work hard for those transitions.
00:09You really do.
00:10That's an A plus, right?
00:12I mean, he fights for his life sometimes working on those transitions.
00:16But that was a good one.
00:18I appreciate it.
00:19So if the Astros win the division, that's like wearing the –
00:24A quarter zip with no shirt under.
00:27I don't know if I'd go quite there.
00:29But, I mean, we saw another series of this division up close and personal
00:34at Dyken Park this weekend, a three-game set versus the Seattle Manors.
00:38And it didn't go the way that you wanted to.
00:40You ultimately allowed them to win the series.
00:44And really, I mean, you required a little bit of magic
00:46just to make sure that you weren't swept in this series.
00:50And so, I mean, the Mariners aren't on your keister by any means.
00:55But, what is it, four games?
00:57Four games.
00:59I've seen crazier things than that.
01:00Fair enough.
01:01I've seen eight games.
01:02Fair enough.
01:03Fair enough.
01:03But, I mean, even still, right?
01:05I think the Astros still are atop the division.
01:08But what does this actually mean?
01:09Like, let's take a step back.
01:10Because, obviously, in the immediate terms, you want to see this team in the playoffs.
01:15Because they are putting enough forward.
01:18And they're trying.
01:19And so, if they're trying, you want to see them succeed, I think, as a fan.
01:22But, in the longer term of the Astros organization, how would an AL West title actually make you feel?
01:29I'm glad you asked.
01:30Because, I'd rather they win the division than not.
01:34I'd rather they make the playoffs than not.
01:36I don't think any Houstonian, any Astros fan would think otherwise.
01:40Of course you would.
01:41Right?
01:41I mean, you'd rather they make the playoffs.
01:43100%.
01:44Rather they win the division.
01:46100%.
01:47I'm just not sure if it changes any.
01:50I'm not sure if we're not having the exact same conversation we had during spring training and early this season
01:56next year that we had this year.
01:58And is that good?
02:01Like, is it just sort of, is it spinning your wheels?
02:04Is it denial?
02:08You know?
02:10Because, I don't know.
02:11They're not going to be any better, no matter what happens, unless they win the World Series.
02:14All right?
02:15They're not going to prove to have been any better going into next year than they were going into this
02:20year.
02:20Even if they win the division.
02:23No.
02:23I mean, I'm going to be honest.
02:25Winning this division is a means to an end for me.
02:29I recognize a banner is a banner.
02:31Right?
02:34This one, if and when it hangs a dyke apart, it's not going to feel the same to me.
02:39I agree.
02:39It is.
02:40And when I say a means to an end, the end is making the playoffs.
02:42It is simply, this is the way that you have to go to make the playoffs because ain't no wild
02:46card available to you.
02:47And thankfully, the rest of your division is not very good.
02:50But it's simply a means to an end.
02:51Like, this does not, this does not equate or seeing this one lined up to the other ones.
02:57Right?
02:57All the other ones.
02:58Shout out to the Astros who have a number of these in recent years.
03:01But lined up next to the other ones.
03:03This does not do anything for adding to the excellence of this run to me.
03:07Right.
03:08Right?
03:08We do this all the time in sports, whether it's looking at a player's, you know, reference page and going,
03:13four-time All-Pro or whatever, you know, whatever it is.
03:16Yeah.
03:16And the number of those speaks to the excellence.
03:19Adding another division title here does not.
03:21Yeah.
03:22Because there's no excellence within it.
03:24But even more important than that, does it speak to progress?
03:26No.
03:26See, that's where I am.
03:28It's like, they're not going, it's like, hey, they're starting to get back on, you know, back to the old
03:33Astros.
03:33Are they?
03:34No.
03:35No.
03:35And I think, I don't think that that hurts me as bad.
03:37But you want to see something, you know?
03:39Agreed.
03:39Yeah.
03:39Agreed.
03:40I think that the real, I guess, oomph in this question is not in the, you know, what does it
03:46mean on the high end?
03:47I think that it points to this.
03:48Because this text line, this text that comes in on the text line from the 713 says, winning the division
03:53would be like, we're just prolonging mediocrity and accepting it.
03:56And that's the thing that I question.
03:58Is it possible, and we're in it now, right?
04:01Like, you can't go back on this.
04:03But is it possible that winning this division actually further cements the Astros in the kind of purgatory that they
04:12seemingly are in right now?
04:14And that's the thing I hope not.
04:15I think that's why we're having this conversation.
04:19I want it.
04:20I love it.
04:20Who doesn't?
04:20Hey, winning is what you're playing for.
04:24But purgatory is the perfect way to do it.
04:26To say, it's like, I don't know if I'm going to feel any better.
04:28By the way, I mean, this, we can talk about this series, too.
04:32And that's what I'm saying.
04:32We can't ignore this series because that's what brings us here.
04:35And I think the bigger thing about that is, I look at the pitching and I go, oh, there's not
04:39started pitching.
04:40Right?
04:40This was a series that, especially if you wanted to take a relatively negative view on this, you look up
04:46and you go, damn it, Dana.
04:47Right?
04:48Damn it, Dana.
04:48Why did you not make sure to get an arm at the trade deadline as opposed to a Dalton Varsha?
04:54How's that trade working out for Wesneski and Blanco?
04:57The trade acquisitions?
05:00I thought you were talking about the real trade.
05:02No, no, no.
05:03He said.
05:03He said they essentially got a trade.
05:05That brother struck out last night looking awful.
05:09Saturday was not a good day for him.
05:10So, yeah, he said it.
05:12He said it's like a trade.
05:13How's that working out?
05:14Yeah, I mean, for a period of time last night, I was like, damn, do you have a single starter
05:17that you feel really good about?
05:19Now, Hunter Brown, being Hunter Brown, got through a tough inning and then ultimately dialed it back in.
05:26And you saw, okay, there are the embers of what you typically expect from Diesel.
05:30But even that still, like, he has not been able to put it all together since he's returned from injury.
05:36Yeah.
05:36He's not been able to put it all together since injury.
05:38There's clearly a lack of belief in Christian Javier and Tatsi Imai, rightfully so.
05:42Right?
05:42Like, do I need to roll down the entirety of the roster here?
05:46And that's absolutely necessary.
05:48And I see you on the text line saying, well, if they go to the ALCS, y'all won't be
05:52happy?
05:52No, absolutely I'll be happy.
05:53Like I said, this is a means to an end, and I still want to compete.
05:56But in the larger span of things, I look up and I go, damn, that feels less viable, even in
06:03the midst of you still being the top of the ALCS.
06:06What would make y'all feel better?
06:08Like, if they make the playoffs, and let's say they go out in the wild card or whatever, what would
06:14make y'all feel more confident?
06:15If they go out in the wild card?
06:16Yeah, let's say they make the playoffs, they went out in the wild card.
06:19Let's say they make a little run, make a little noise, get to the wild card, and get knocked out.
06:24I don't think that would make you feel good.
06:25That wouldn't make me feel good.
06:26No, not that part, but just going into next season.
06:30No, that's what I'm talking about.
06:31That's kind of the purgatory I'm talking about.
06:33If they make the playoffs, which it looks like they are, it's a close race, but they're leading, and they're
06:39out in the wild card round, how would that make me feel any better optimistic?
06:44No, I'm just thinking, let's say he might start clicking.
06:47Let's say he get back in the rotation.
06:50I don't think he is, but let's say he get back in the rotation, he start clicking, and then you
06:55got Blanco, he start putting it together.
06:58Wineski, he start putting it together, but they just get bounced out.
07:01They just have a bad series in the wild card.
07:04Would that make you feel better going into next season?
07:06The pitching might be the only thing, Reggie, right?
07:09If you start to see something, but even then, I mean, the clock is ticking, and here we are, you
07:16know, August 17th.
07:18Yeah.
07:18Could that even happen?
07:19Because I'm with y'all.
07:21I would feel bad if they just kind of drag ass into the playoffs, and you had like the people
07:26that's probably, you know, Altuve might turn it up a little bit, and they just get not, like that wouldn't
07:32make me feel good into next season.
07:33I think the only thing that would make me feel good, more optimistic than I was this year, which is
07:37the conversation we're having, is new manager, new general manager.
07:41Which, I'm not certain that we're not headed to that.
07:44That's why I was like.
07:44No, no, we are.
07:45I mean, 100%.
07:47Joe Espada, what are you doing?
07:48Can you say 100%?
07:49What are you doing?
07:50Are we talking about taking Yordan out?
07:52What are we?
07:53What?
07:54And pinch running Cam Smith for him?
07:55When he did that, I was like, maybe there's a reason I'm not the manager.
08:01Well, I can say that that is the case.
08:02I'm like, I wouldn't have did that.
08:04No, you wouldn't have.
08:05And then I started seeing everybody else talk about it.
08:06I was like, okay.
08:08Dude, it was the eighth inning of a game that had all the markings going to extras, and even
08:14if it didn't go to extras, he was, was he in the hole?
08:17He was third up when they made the final out?
08:19He would have been fourth.
08:19He would have been fourth.
08:20No, when they made their final out, he was second or third up.
08:23His spot in the lineup.
08:25What are you doing?
08:27Yordan Alvarez, have a seat.
08:28We're going to pinch run for you.
08:32What in the world?
08:34They even mentioned it on the broadcast.
08:35They did.
08:36They did.
08:37Yeah, and it was both Anthony Rizzo and Blummer who was on this broadcast for NBC who were
08:44like, yeah, I don't typically like taking your best bat out of the lineup.
08:48And I hear that.
08:49I understand this is the ups and downs of a manager who likes going to his, going to
08:54his, going to his bench and saying, hey, the eighth inning is my, it feels like my best
09:00shot at actually getting a run across.
09:02So I'm throwing every, everything out of here.
09:03Oh boy.
09:04Yeah.
09:05But you know, I, I get it.
09:06You know, the, his character is such that he's going to go to the bench.
09:09Somebody needed to, to, to kind of hit him with their elbow and say, yeah, but that's
09:13Yordan.
09:14That's Yordan.
09:15That's all we've got.
09:17Is there, is there anything in there that gives you a little bit of pause because not
09:20only is it Yordan, but now you have Yordan on the base pass and in a situation where
09:25you had already run through the wall once and he was fine.
09:27But that's what I'm saying.
09:28It's like, he had run through the wall once and you, I think you can look at that and go,
09:31oh, we made it through something.
09:32Phew.
09:33Let's not put him in more danger.
09:34Just like, you're like, hey, this is his day.
09:36Under, under no circumstances do I pinch run for Yordan.
09:39I would understand if the game was out of hand.
09:41Yeah.
09:41Like on either side.
09:43But this one, it was a close game.
09:45Like it's one home run away.
09:46And he can run.
09:46We've established he can run.
09:48I get it.
09:48There's always injury risk.
09:50But what did I just say last segment?
09:51Don't play scared, man.
09:52Well, that, that, that one is a little bit less scared and a little bit more.
09:56He is the entirety of what we're hinging this thing upon.
09:58Well, it's both.
09:59Yeah.
10:00You're taking him out.
10:01And this is a very important series too.
10:03And by the way, to a lesser degree, although I, I, I wasn't quite as upset with this pitching
10:08hater down a run, you know, uh, what, what, what, it's for two, what would have been two
10:13innings.
10:15I don't know about that either, but not, I wasn't quite as mad about that.
10:18He did it twice too, didn't he?
10:19He did it twice.
10:20Yeah.
10:21All right.
10:21You're in the loop right here on sports radio 610.
10:23And yes, Pecco does seem like he's, uh, Ethan Pecco does seem like he's coming up to the
10:27majors sooner rather than later.
10:29So, uh, yeah, that, that'll be helpful.
10:31But I, again, still, I don't, uh, there's that somebody else goes, why are we pretending
10:35like you can't sign arms in the off season?
10:36And again, how has that gone for you recently?
10:38And you have to, I think you have to sign into something.
10:40I don't think you can build this wholesale out of whole cloth out of a free agency.
10:44It's it, you need to have something there.
10:46And I think that's ultimately the question that we're having with all of this, even as, uh,
10:50the division is continues to be wildly close in the ALS.
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