Pennant Racin', Sept. 26

Before getting started with our Pennant Racin’ today, let me mention that I’ll be doing an Ask Me Anything with Substack Notes on Thursday from 2-3 p.m. Eastern. It’s free, obviously, and you can register here. Apparently, if you do register, it will send you a reminder about the event and also a direct link to my Notes, where the AMA will be. Here’s a fun little visual that Substack put together.

It says, “AMA on BASEBALL,” but I’m told AMAs don’t work that way and you can ask me anything on anything. Again, you can register with this handy button:

OK, only four games on the docket Monday, but some interesting stuff.

Winners

Houston Astros (beat the Mariners 5-1)

Let me show you something really weird — here are the Astros’ home records and winning percentages since 2019:

2019: 60-21 (.741)
2020: 20-8 (.714)
2021: 51-30 (.630)
2022: 55-26 (.679)
Total: 185-85 (.686)

That is the best home record in the American League over that four-year span — only the Dodgers have a better home record in baseball. Over the past four seasons, the Astros have hit well at home (tying the Red Sox for the highest on-base percentage in the league and slugging .464 as a team) while pitching fantastic (holding opponents .214/.283/.365 split). It has been utter domination in Houston.

This year? Not so much.

2023 home record: 39-42 (.481)

This year, the Astros’ OPS at home is bottom-half in baseball — it’s lower than the Angels and Royals, for crying out loud — and their home ERA of 4.25 is also bottom-half and almost a full run worse than it has been the last four seasons.

Something about this team just hasn’t been clicking.