The Houston Astros, the leaders of the AL West division, have a solid 35-20 record and a comfortable cushion over the rest of the competition.
The Seattle Mariners are 25-30, fourth in the division, and 10 games behind the Astros.
With talented hitters such as Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve, Jeremy Pena, Yuli Gurriel, Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, and Michael Brantley (just to name a few), you would think the Astros’ offense is far and away better than Seattle’s, right?
Well, that’s not the case… it may be better, but raw totals, at least, don’t show it.
Astros beat writer Brian McTaggart opened our eyes about a shocking fact: the Mariners have scored more runs than the Astros in 2022.
Wait, what?
Yes, that’s right.
“Would you be surprised to know the Mariners (229) have scored more runs than the Astros (227) this year?,” he tweeted.
Would you be surprised to know the Mariners (229) have scored more runs than the Astros (227) this year?
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) June 7, 2022
To answer Mr. Taggart’s question: yes, we would be surprised.
In fact, let’s throw another fun fact out there while we are at it: the Texas Rangers have scored almost as many runs (226) as the Astros.
Additionally, the Los Angeles Angels have scored 20 more runs than Houston (247) heading into Tuesday’s games.
The Astros Pitching Is The Difference
The big difference between the Astros and all those teams lies in their pitching staff.
They have gotten consistent, effective innings from the likes of Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Luis Garcia, Jake Odorizzi, and many others.
The same can’t be said about the rest of the teams in the division.
That’s why the Astros’ run differential is a solid +45, while the next-best team, the Angels, are at +10.
Before the season, the Mariners and Angels were expected to give the Astros a run for their money in the division.
It still hasn’t happened, and Houston looks, once again, like the favorite to take the AL West.
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