3 Houston Astros playing their way off the postseason roster

Houston Astros who shouldn't be on the postseason roster: Hunter Brown

If Baker has any sense to him, he will skip Hunter Brown's next time through the rotation. Brown has been brutal the second half of the season, and has an ERA over nine in his last seven games. The only reason he is still on the major-league roster is because the Astros don't have a ton of options at the back end of their starting rotation.

In their embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Kansas City Royals, Brown gave up six runs and four home runs in three innings. Enough said. Despite Brown's attempts to sink their season, Astros veteran Jose Abreu was confident they would get their swagger back.

“The champions always have pressure and I think the guys know what they need to do to be able to get out of this,” he said in Spanish through a translator. “We haven’t got the results (we wanted) but we know what we need to do and it starts tomorrow.”

A series-opening win in Seattle proved Abreu right, to some extent. A series victory on Wednesday would do wonders for their confidence moving forward, especially if their future includes a wild card berth.