Yet another Astros injury just opened Guardians' playoff door even further

There are a couple of reasons for the Houston Astros’ stunning September collapse. 

Their top-tier starting pitchers are starting to run out of gas after a long season. Their impact bats have started to go quiet. But perhaps the biggest reason they’ve fallen back to earth has been due to injuries.

That theme reared its head again this weekend when All-Star shortstop Jeremy Peña was pulled out of Houston’s lineup pregame on Sunday due to oblique soreness. 

While it looks like there’s a chance it could only be a minor injury, it’s another reminder of how fragile the Astros’ roster is. 

Jeremy Peña’s injury shows how vulnerable the Astros are 

While the Guardians’ 10-game winning streak came to an end on Sunday, the Guardians are now only one game back in the American League Central. They’re also tied with the Astros for the American League’s final Wild Card spot, though they technically hold the spot since they have the first tiebreaker over the Astros. 

Houston entered the weekend with a 1 1/2 game lead in the Wild Card standings, but their presence in the standings dropped like an anvil after they got swept by the Mariners while the Guardians took three out of four against the Twins. 

For most of the season it looked like the Astros were a lock to make the postseason, but they’ve gone 34-37 since the start of July with a zombie roster. They’ve only had two positions players play in 140+ games (Jose Altuve and Christian Walker) along with having 36 players throw one pitch for them. 

They’ve needed a village, but that village is beginning to fall apart and run out of residents.

They got a big reinforcement back last week in the form of All-Star Isaac Paredes, but he joined the roster as the corresponding move for the team placing Yordan Alvarez on the 10-day injured list after he suffered a “severe” ankle sprain when he slipped on home plate. 

It can’t be overstated how much the Astros would miss Peña if he suffered a significant injury. On Saturday, he accounted for all of Houston’s offense when he mashed a sixth inning grand slam in Houston’s loss. The next day, the Astros only tallied three runs in their loss to the Mariners.

The good news for the Astros is that they have a cupcake schedule the rest of the way. After an off-day on Monday, the Astros will travel to Sacramento to take on The Athletics in a three-game series before heading to Anaheim for a season-ending three-game series against the Angels. 

Meanwhile, the Guardians welcome Detroit to Progressive Field for a huge three-game series before facing off against the Rangers in their final series of the year. 

The Guardians are lucky enough to be able to control their postseason fate thanks to their series against the Tigers and the fact they own the tiebreaker over the Astros, but every postseason team gets a break or two during the season.