Houston Astros designated hitter Jeremy Peña (3) celebrates his two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning against Texas Rangers at Daikin Pak in Houston on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026.
Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle
Not long after delivering the hit that decided a Houston Astros sweep on Sunday afternoon, Cam Smith attempted to diagnose the torrid two weeks it prolonged.
“It’s just one of those moments where you just start going,” said the second-year right fielder. “You can’t really predict when it’s going to happen, you just know eventually it’s going to happen.”
For months, as an awful start morphed into treading water in a muddled American League, the Astros professed to be awaiting a push. Patience for it dwindled, to that point that being swept by Baltimore after the All-Star break left the Astros seven games below .500 and, in the words of shortstop Jeremy Peña, with a “need to start getting results now.”
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Perhaps it has arrived, and in just the manner Smith described. With little warning, in the wake of that letdown against the Orioles, began the fortnight that has propelled the Astros back into first place in a dismal division and into control of their October destiny with 24 hours until the trade deadline and two months left in a season that once seemed headed for disappointment.
“Just playing our tails off, man,” manager Joe Espada said. “On both sides of the ball, the energy, the execution, just the determination by this club. Right now, we’re just playing our best baseball.”
Amid the ennui his club displayed at times in the first half, Espada’s unfailing optimism might have felt mismatched. Yet it’s worth remembering the turnaround from 12-24 to a division title that he oversaw two years ago in his first season at Houston’s helm.
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This roster arguably has more flaws, a fact the Astros’ front office has vowed to address — at least to a partial extent — prior to Monday’s trade deadline. For the past two weeks, however, the current roster has finally rewarded its manager’s outward faith.
On the morning of July 20, the Astros had a 47-54 record. FanGraphs assessed them a 5.3% chance to win the American League West and a 13.3% chance to reach the playoffs. That either number even stood that high reflected a weak division and a lackluster league offering Houston a reprieve.
Since then, the Astros have gone 11-1, leapfrogging the Rangers into first place in the AL West with an emphatic sweep of the teams’ series this weekend at Daikin Park. As of Sunday afternoon, FanGraphs put their odds to win the AL West at 42.7%, with a 57.4% chance of making the playoffs.
“The run over the last two weeks has been great, but the baseball we’ve played over the last two-plus months I think has been pretty strong baseball,” said starter Peter Lambert. “Especially this weekend … just contributors all over the clubhouse.”
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For a series at the start of August, this weekend’s intrastate showdown held stakes for both clubs. The Rangers entered it with a half-game lead in the AL West. The Astros had to win one of three games to secure the season series and tiebreaker between the teams, no small matter. In 2023, the Astros won the division by virtue of a tiebreaker. Last year, they missed the playoffs because of one.
What ensued resembled a statement. Houston outscored the Rangers by a 23-9 margin over the three games, never trailing in the 27 innings. It emerged from the weekend with a 2½-game lead over Texas, which was reportedly waiting to see how the series unfolded to tailor its trade deadline approach.
“We knew back in Anaheim that this was going to be a pretty important series,” slugger Yordan Alvarez said, through an interpreter. “So I think that’s what you saw out there, that we put more intensity into the game and we treated it more like it was a playoff game for us.”
The Rangers lined up Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom and Kumar Rocker to start in the series. Houston’s embattled lineup scored six runs off Eovaldi in the opener, knocked deGrom out in the fourth inning of Saturday’s game and squandered a raft of scoring chances against Rocker in the finale before breaking through against the Rangers bullpen in a decisive four-run seventh inning.
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As the front office focused on upgrading its outfield offense, the Astros extracted significant contributions from that group and the bottom half of their order this weekend. The bottom four spots totaled nine hits in the opener, driving in three runs in an 11-2 rout and setting the table for Peña and Alvarez, who are both on tears.
Peña, riding a 14-game hitting streak, went 7-for-14 in the series with five RBIs and three runs scored. Alvarez went 7-for-11 with four walks, four RBIs and three runs scored. That both drove in more runs than they scored reflected traffic produced by the bottom of the lineup. Taylor Trammell and LaMonte Wade Jr. helped there. Smith struck three hits Sunday.
“The offense has always been there,” said Alvarez. “There’s highs and lows throughout the season, but I think we’re taking advantage of those opportunities now.”
This weekend’s results are unlikely to affect the Astros’ pursuit of another bat. General manager Dana Brown did tell their pre-game radio show Sunday that the Astros “do not want to pull from our major-league team” in a trade, a stance that, if adhered to, will mean parting with prospects for any upgrades they intend to make.
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What significance of moves Houston can pursue with its poorly rated farm system and proximity to the luxury tax remains to be seen before Monday at 5 p.m. CT. But the timing of its best stretch this season does make a case for Brown to keep the current club largely intact. Nor is the need less to augment an outfield group that entered Sunday with the majors’ lowest OPS, or perhaps a tenuous rotation.
Such additions could help gird Houston for a postseason push. One series guarantees nothing, nor does leading the division on Aug. 2, a reality the Astros experienced firsthand last year. But it did continue an auspicious trajectory for a team that spent much of the summer seeking ignition.
“We’re trying to accomplish something,” Espada said, “and that’s the type of baseball that you need to play to accomplish what we’re trying to accomplish.”