Run Prevention Will Drive Any 2025 Success

We’re now in May and starting to get a better sense of the 2025 Astros, including their strengths and weaknesses.

The lineup has improved in recent weeks, thankfully inching closer to average territory. Once Yordan Alvarez hits, well, like Yordan Alvarez, the lineup should be in decent shape. Not great, mind you, but certainly better. You can certainly make an argument that they need at least one more above-average bat, though.

But realistically, the lineup won’t be the primary reason if this team succeeds in 2025. Instead, as the results have indicated so far, this team’s identity is increasingly tied to its run prevention abilities. The pitching staff, for example, has started the season as…