Ronel Blanco is the Houston Astros’ first half MVP

It’s been a long time since Houston Astros fans have had to endure a season like the one the team has had in 2024. A 7-19 start led to a 12-24 start, and just about a week ago, after a 2-0 shutout loss to the woeful Chicago White Sox, the team appeared to have hit rock bottom at 33-40 and 10 games behind the Seattle Mariners for the AL West lead.

Wow, what a difference a week can make! Since that loss to the White Sox, the Astros have not lost a game, winning seven in a row and outscoring their opponents by a combined margin of 48-20. The Mariners, meanwhile, have been reeling, and the Astros have won a whopping 5.5 games in the standings, sitting just 4.5 behind Seattle and 3.5 in the AL wild-card race.

In short, what seemed like a summer of frustration and discontent, now all of a sudden Astros fans are screaming “We’re back, baby!” There’s still work to be done, but at 40-40, we’re essentially halfway through the season (we’re one game short), so on a Friday after a day off, why not hand out some superlatives for the season, so far?

Here we go…

Most Valuable Player: RONEL BLANCO, SP
It’s been a fascinating first half for Blanco, whose current career as a starting pitcher dates back to a suggestion from general manager Dana Brown to prepare him for this season as a starter. That decision paid off with a performance that should be All Star Game worthy. (More on that in a moment.) Blanco started the season with a bang, pitching a complete game, no-hitter against the Blue Jays in the home opener, and at this point he’s 8- 2 with a 2.34 ERA, which is best. 6th best in baseball. Along the way, he suffered a 10-game suspension for a sticky substance in his glove during a May start, but he came through that period of adversity with flying colors. It’s unclear where the Astros would be right now without Blanco. The team is 11-3 in their 14 starts.

Biggest disappointment: JUSTIN VERLANDER, SP
To be fair, there are plenty of candidates for that spot, with the mere existence of Jose Abreu having dragged the team down for the first three months of the season. Plus, Alex Bregman, Ryan Pressly, and Josh Hader, among others, have had poor starts to the season, not to mention season-ending injuries to Cristian Javier and Jose Urquidy. So Verlander isn’t alone. However, when he has pitched this season, his ERA has been close to 4.00, and he’s currently nursing his second injury of the season that landed him on the disabled list, a neck injury that has left him unable to pitch for several days with no end in sight. That’s what happens when you’re 41, I guess.

Turning point: Nine runs in the 6th inning against the ORIOLES on June 21
The Astros’ seven-game winning streak actually started in the sixth inning of their season opener against the Orioles last Friday, when they turned a 5-3 lead into a 14-3 lead, and did so with exactly zero home runs. They hit five doubles in the inning, including two by rookie outfielder Joey Loperfido, and have since outscored their opponents by a 25-5 margin. That 14-11 victory in that game was the first salvo in the best series of the season, a sweep of a very good Orioles team.

Should be All Stars: JOSE ALTUVE, YORDAN ALVAREZ, KYLE TUCKER, RONEL BLANCO
If the fan vote is confirmed, and the final two games take place next week, Altuve, Alvarez and Tucker should all be starters, and all three deserve to be starters. Altuve is averaging over .300 again, Alvarez has regained his hitting power and has an OPS near .900, and Tucker was an MVP candidate before fouling out on his shin on June 3. As previously stated, Blanco deserves to be selected to the All-Star Game, but the American League is full of good starting pitchers.

Most notable scenario of the second half: the return of LUIS GARCIA and LANCE McCULLERS
The Astros are short on players in the starting rotation, with only four healthy, experienced starters, and honestly, using the term “experienced” to describe Blanco and Spencer Arrighetti is a bit of a stretch. The Astros had plenty of off days in the latter part of the schedule, so they were able to get by, but soon, the schedule will be much less forgiving. That will force the Astros to make decisions on trades or minor league recalls. Meanwhile, Garcia and McCullers are inching closer and closer to a return. Garcia, in fact, is pitching at their rookie complex this weekend. How this team handles the back end of the rotation over the next two weeks could tell us a lot about how confident it is that Garcia and McCullers will be back at or near full strength.

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