Astros Know They’re Still the Best Team in Baseball, Red Sox and Yankees Power Shows No Matter: With Kyle Tucker Still Coming, It’s Fortnite and Chill

The music’s not on in the Houston Astros clubhouse, but there’s no drift of dread either. These reigning world champions might be the proudest team in baseball, one which probably still doesn’t get the league wide respect it should.

So no, Jose Altuve is not going to play the media game of feigning alarm.

“It’s not frustrating,” Altuve says emphatically after Red Sox 9, Astros 3 on Sunday Night Baseball, after winning the first two games against mighty Boston dissolves into a disappointing 2-2 series tie. “We’re going to do this a lot.

“Sometimes, we’re going to come here, we’re going to get a lot of opportunities and we’re going to execute. I don’t think there’s frustration around this clubhouse”

June 4 is a little too late in the baseball calendar to say it’s too early anymore. But it’s not close to time to worry about the idea of the Seattle Mariners holding a slim lead in the American League West. Yes, the Astros are currently in Wildcard position, one game out of first place in their own division.

They don’t want to be in this spot in September, but for now they can largely still Fortnite and chill.

“That’s baseball,” center fielder Tony Kemp says after a night in which the Astros go 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position and let hittable Red Sox starter Rick Porcello get off the mat more than Rocky. “Sometimes you’ve just got to keep at it and be confident the hits are coming.”

These Astros clearly still think they’re the best team in baseball — and the one that really knows how to get things done in October. There’s a good chance they’re right, too. Then again, this is a new top heavy American League where only three or four teams figure to truly matter.

And the Astros are now 4-9 against the two other true colossals in the American League, the Yankees and Red Sox, this season. It does not mean they’re doomed in October by any means. But it sure means that other powers in the league (especially the Yankees who’ve gone 5-2 against Houston this season) suddenly believe they can uncrown the champs.

Jose Altuve and Co. may not absolutely need that mental edge in the postseason. But it sure helps to have it.

To assume everything will change once the calendar turns to Fall is a dangerous game. The Astros do not have the type of talent edge over the rest of Major League Baseball that the Golden State Warriors hold over the entire NBA. They cannot just coast and turn it on.

Not with those Yankees and these Red Sox lurking out there, bringing more power to the table than Dolores in Westworld.

“And that’s without (injured stars Dustin) Pedroia and Mookie (Betts),” Astros starter Charlie Morton says when asked about the Red Sox’s stacked lineup. “They seem confident, comfortable in the the box. Even getting to the sixth inning, limiting the damage… there was a lot of luck right there.

“There were a lot of hard outs.”

Morton gives up more runs than he’s ever given up in an Astros uniform in this Sunday Night Baseball showcase. It is unfair to expect the Astros’ starting pitchers to be superhero worthy all season.

Astros manager A.J. Hinch will tell you that his team just largely needs a day off after a 5-6 stretch against what figures to be three of the five American League playoff teams (the Indians, Yankees and Red Sox).

“Physically we’re a little bit tired,” Hinch says. “Mentally, we’re a little bit tired. We showed that a little bit. But we’ll be fine. We’re a pretty resilient group that just went through a little bit of a rough travel schedule like a lot of these teams do.”

Hinch expects to see a much sharper, rested team in an important two-game mini series against those first-place-for-now Seattle Mariners at Minute Maid Tuesday and Wednesday. Still, the fact is the Astros are only 14-14 against the other five teams with the American League’s best records (Yankees, Red Sox, Mariners, Angels and Indians) — and 23-10 against the rest of their schedule.

Beating up on also rans are how good records are made, but Houston’s prime time players will need to rise to the occasion before long.

The Kyle Tucker Program

Kyle Tucker will be arriving at Minute Maid eventually this summer — or the Astros aren’t truly serious about never settling in the quest to build a dynasty. Tucker’s a true difference-making bat that can potentially trump almost any midseason trade acquisition. Carlos Correa is also overdue for several scorching weeks or a scorching month. Alex Bregman is just starting to get into the grove.

There are clear ways for the reigning champions to be better going forward that do not involve a bullpen makeover.

But while the wait goes on, the prime competition — the teams the Astros tormented last October — get more and more confident.

“It’s early June, but we dropped the first two games and we felt like we needed to kind of punch back a little bit,” Porcello says of the Red Sox rallying back from losing the first two games at Minute Maid to split the series.

There are no knockouts in baseball in June. But the body blows can linger longer than you think. Not that the champs are at all stressed.

“With the guys in this clubhouse, there’s no reason to worry,” Kemp tells PaperCity. “We have some great leaders.”

Fortnite and chill? For now.