The Houston Astros enter this week as a team on the brink. Not only have they dropped three series in a row to the A's, Angels and Mariners to fall out of the playoff picture for the first time in weeks, but they also just fired GM Dana Brown, with manager Joe Espada's future very much in question as well. Amid a slow but steady slide since the team's last World Series title — from the ALCS in 2023 to a Wild Card ouster in 2024 to missing the postseason entirely in 2025, shedding key members of their core along the way — it's hard to avoid the feeling that Houston's dynasty is dying, and whatever comes next is far from certain.
All of which is likely music to the ears of New York Yankees fans, especially considering that Houston comes to the Bronx to kick off a three-game set beginning on Tuesday night. In many ways, the Astros built that dynasty at New York's expense, including three ALCS losses in 2017, 2019 and 2022. A sweep this week at Yankee Stadium wouldn't heal those wounds entirely but it could help drive a stake into Jose Altuve's heart.
The Yankees can send the Astros spiraling — and exact some small measure of revenge
These three games against the Yankees kick off a brutal closing stretch for the Astros, one that features series against the Rays, Braves, Phillies, D-backs and White Sox. Only two teams in the AL have a tougher schedule until the end of the year, and when you consider how much competition Houston has to fend off in both the division (where the Rangers, Astros and Mariners all sit within three games of each other) and Wild Card races (where seven teams are within four games of each other in the loss column), they can ill afford a losing streak right now.
All of which makes their trip to the Bronx feel even juicier than it otherwise would when these two hated rivals get together. New York has its own postseason concerns to worry about, of course, but everybody in the tristate area can attest just how sweet it would be to help usher Houston into a winter of discontent. The Astros will forever hold on to bragging rights in this matchup, at least until the Yankees finally get Aaron Judge a World Series ring; to the pennants go the spoils, after all. But if sweeping Houston out of the building would at least feel like poetic justice.
Stub your toe at home, though, and the questions about New York's October viability will grow even louder, as will concerns that this version of the team simply has some bugaboos they'll never get over.
3 burning questions that will determine crucial Yankees-Astros series
Can Will Warren take advantage of a golden opportunity?
Warren gets the ball on Tuesday night in a bit of a rough patch: He's got a 5.92 ERA across nine starts since the start of July, and he's made it past the fourth inning in less than half of those outings. But with a banged-up offense still struggling and Max Fried, Ryan Weathers and Clarke Schmidt all still on the IL, the Yankees have no choice but to ride with the young righty and hope he figures it out.
There's some reason for optimism against the Astros, though. Warren has always been vicitmized by left-handed hitters, running pretty extreme splits over the course of his career. But Houston boasts a notoriously righty-heavy lineup: The additions of Daulton Varsho and Taylor Trammell have helped a bit, but there are still just three lefty regulars on this roster at the moment. That means two-thirds of the offense Warren will face on Tuesday will be right-handed, which could allow his sinker/sweeper combination to really sing.
Can the Yankees lefty bats finally come alive?
New York's offense is in a very bad way right now, even with Cody Bellinger's return over the weekend. Which creates something of a stoppable force vs. movable object situation this week, as Houston's starting rotation is probably the worst among any postseason contender.
The Astros will run out a trio of underwhelming righties in Peter Lambert, Ethan Pecko and Hayden Wesneski. All three are vulnerable against opposite-handed hitters. So the question is: Can the Yankees lefty bats, guys like Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Trent Grisham, Spencer Jones and Austin Wells, pull their weight in this series? If they're ever going to break out of their summer-long slump and start heating up for the stretch run, now's the time.
Can New York finally figure out Yordan Alvarez?
Of course, for as middling as Houston has been of late, they still have the best hitter on planet Earth on their side — and through Yordan Alvarez, all things are possible. That's especially true against the Yankees: Yordan has owned the Bronx Bombers throughout his career, with a lifetime slash line of .318/.389/.620 that includes 11 homers in just 33 starts.
If the Astros want to win this series, it will almost certainly be through Alvarez's bat. Can Gerrit Cole and Cam Schlittler, scheduled to start on Wednesday and Thursday, figure out a way to at least keep him in check and in the yard? If there's one player New York can't afford to let beat them, it's Yordan.
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