Despite the injuries that have impacted the Astros’ rotation this season, they’ve thankfully not missed any of their top starters, Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown. While pitching depth is incredibly important, the importance of your best arms can’t be emphasized enough. A healthy Valdez and Brown atop the rotation likely assures Houston, at least on paper, a better chance of victory when they are on the mound most of the time.
Brown started on Saturday, and you had to feel good about his chances against the Guardians, who have a bottom-ten lineup by wRC+ (94) and runs scored (243) entering the day.