Wassup Astros, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
For years, the Astros have been the best team in baseball and the worst thing to ever happen to the Mariners. From 2015-2022, the Mariners had a 49-97 record against the Astros, culminating in the infamous 2022 ALDS sweep. The Astros were a dynasty, the most consistent powerhouse in baseball, and they enjoyed rubbing it in Mariner fans’ faces every single chance they could. There was nothing the Mariners could do to stop it.
But all that is gone. From 2023-now, the Mariners have flipped the script and gone 31-15 against the Astros, including a recently-snapped nine game winning streak. While the Astros have fallen from their perch as the team to beat in the league (thank god), the Mariners have finally been able to get some revenge on their most hated rival.
So what happened? How did the Mariners finally overcome the Astros? It’s not just one switch that got flipped.
The Hitting Core: For a few years leading up to 2022, the Astros slowly began to lose a few pieces of their core, but not fast enough to make a difference at first. George Springer left to the Blue Jays in 2021, and Carlos Correa departed for the Twins the year after. Unfortunately the lineup of rookie Jeramy Pena, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, and Yordan Alvarez was still horrifying enough to be great. But with Bregman and Tucker departing a few years later, the Astros stars continue to wink out one by one.
The Ace: Justin Verlander was the bane of the Mariners’ existence from 2017-2022, winning 2 Cy Young awards and leading the Astros pitching staff to two championships. In that time, Verlander went 11-2 against the Mariners with a 2.88 ERA and 128 strikeouts in 17 games. I remember whenever I watched the Mariners play against Verlander it felt like a guaranteed loss. It was such a blow to morale to lose to him over and over again. When Verlander went to the Mets in the 2022 offseason, it felt like a great weight was lifted off the shoulders of Mariners fans everywhere. No longer did we have to worry about Justin Verlander in our division.
The Aura: The lack of scare factor has been the downfall of the Astros since 2023. Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown have been good for them, but neither of them have quite the presence that Verlander did. Verlander was an unbreakable wall, and you always knew that Framber would break when bent. Yordan Alvarez is the scariest man in baseball when healthy, but a few injury ridden years have hurt his stock (although he’s off to a terrifying start this year). The Astros aren’t even the most hated team in the league anymore, as the recent run of dominance from the Dodgers seems to have taken that crown. It’s their worst nightmare: people don’t care about them like they used to.
Obviously the Mariners have improved over the last few years, it’s a night and day difference. But the Astros that have dominated a near decade of baseball are finally, Finally coming back down to Earth. Hou love to Sea it.
Go M’s,
Henry “Hoping to be Above .500 soon” Neiman