Can Astros Catch Yankees in Second Half of Season?

The New York Yankees are having one of their best seasons in a decade and have yet to show signs of slowing down. As of today, the Yankees lead the MLB with a 58-22 (.725) record after going 6-4 in their last 10 matchups. 

New York leads the AL East as well after dominating their division rivals so far in 2022. The Yankees hold a massive 13-game lead over the second-place Red Sox and are 14.5 ahead of the Blue Jays in third. While the AL East title appears to be already out of reach, the Yankees are far from guaranteed to finish with the best overall record in the American League -- at least not if the Houston Astros have anything to say about it. 

The Astros are the current leaders of the AL West at 52-27 overall. Much like the Yankees, the Astros hold a commanding 13.5-game lead over the Mariners in the division race. At this point, these two teams are chasing each other and would need to collapse to blow their division leads. 

So, can the Astros catch the Yankees in the hunt for the best record in the AL? 

If things continue the way they went over the last couple of weeks, definitely yes. The Astros are 9-1 straight up in their last 10 games and made up a lot of ground in the AL title race during that time. Not only did they win three more games, but Houston beat the Yankees in three of five games last weekend. One surefire way to catch the Yankees is to beat them outright and the pair still have one more series to play later in July. 

While I don’t expect the Astros will continue to win at such a high rate, they don’t need a whole lot to catch the Yankees. With just a few games separating them, all it takes is a few bad series from New York for Houston to catch up. This is definitely a battle to keep an eye on as we head into the second half of the season.

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