Yankees Put Pressure on Astros With Mega Streak, But Zack Greinke Wisely Shakes Off Any Worry

The New York Yankees just keep winning now, day after day after day, thrilling Major League Baseball executives with starry visions of the big market October TV matchups they crave. The Tampa Bay Rays just keep doing Rays things, building the best record in the American League with a cast of young future stars that casual sports fans have not heard of (Randy Arozarena and Wander Franco) and more journeyman pitchers than anyone can possibly remember.

And the Houston Astros — and Chicago White Sox, for that matter too — just keep sort of going along. The Astros are not losing ground or putting themselves in any real jeopardy. (Not with the Oakland A’s only 3-8 in their last 11 games.) But they’re not scaring anybody either.

Definitely not any of their potential future October super foes. Not by losing to the Kansas City Royals 7-1 at home Monday, their fourth loss to the going nowhere Royals in five meetings.

“These guys — they’re handing it to us,” Astros manager Dusty Baker says of the now 56-68 Royals. “I feel like a counter puncher. They’re punching us and we’re not punching them back.”

Would it look so bad if the Yankees weren’t beating everyone but The Freeze right now, though? It’s a legitimate question, one that speaks to how storylines are shaped in baseball, a sport where the long view often matters most even as the daily drama more often shapes perceptions.

Astros starter Zack Greinke — one of the smartest men in baseball — has thoughts about this. Particularly the hand wringing over the 73-51 Astros being only 28-25 vs. below .500 teams this season. And even worst against the dregs of the AL Central — the Tigers, Royals and Twins.

“It seems like every year I’m on a team and they find something small like that to complain about,” Greinke says in his brilliant Greinke way. “This year you guys think that’s a big deal. Last year we might not have won home games or something like that. Which was a big deal. Things like that.

“I think in Arizona, there was something like that. We weren’t good enough at home one time too. You can’t win every game. It just happens.”

In other words, baseball is baseball, a little wacky by nature.

Zack Greinke knows better. The Yankees have won August. But there is still a little ways till October.

The Astros are still only 18-16 since the All-Star break. The Yankees are 37-9. Houston is also 9-12 since a trade deadline that clearly helped them but did not land the ultimate prize in A1 ace Max Scherzer. While the New York Yankees cannot seem to do anything but win, having ripped off a 20-4 spree since July 30th, the Astros are still in a better playoff position in the fiercely competitive American League.

The Yankees are still headed for the perils of a one-game wildcard playoff, unless the Rays stumble under their surge.

Long term consistency matters most in baseball. At least when it comes to making October. Once you’re there. . . well, that may be a different story.

Then again, would you rather have a 31-year-old recalibrating Giancarlo Stanton or the 24-year-old on-the-verge superstar Yordan Alvarez in October? Stanton swats down the nearly equally sizzling Braves while Alvarez goes 0 for 4 and leaves eight runners on base on this Monday in baseball. But who isn’t taking Alvarez over Stanton? Alvarez has been one of the 20 best hitters in all of MLB this season. With room for more.

And even on a day when the Astros somehow manage to make Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch look like an ace, there are more moments of defensive brilliance from Carlos Correa, who always seems to raise his game even more in October.

Maybe, No Worry Zack Greinke has a point.

Dusty Baker’s Misery and Yankees’ Joy

Of course, this does not make Astros manager Dusty Baker’s daily life any easier at the moment. After he answers three questions from reporters in the postgame Zoom and does not get another, the 72-year-old baseball lifer signs off with, “So glad that’s all you’ve got.”

The daily grind of baseball is sometimes least kind to the managers of true contenders.

Baker looks at the standings every day, all season long. He’s never tried to pretend like he doesn’t. What Baker must see now is an American League top stacked with potential championship teams. The Rays, Astros, White Sox and Yankees can all make legitimate cases for being the best in the league at this point.

If that’s how the AL Final Four ends up (the second wildcard team, likely Boston or Oakland, will have something to say about it), it will be a bloodbath of a fight for a World Series berth.

The Astros have set themselves up to be in that elite mix yet again, minor stumbles and all. That means more than losing the season series to the Kansas City Royals. And their fans seem to know it.

This Monday night crowd on the first day many local kids returned to school (an exhausting proposition for students and parents alike) was not large (18,742). But it made up for that with loud enthusiasm. A section of fans even broke into “Jose! Jose!” chants in the bottom of the ninth with the Astros trailing by six runs and showing few signs of life.

Altuve and Co. could not put on a show this night, but they’ll be more to come. You can worry if you want. Fret over how the Yankees and the Braves are winning with the relentless urgency that their once-buried-in-the-standings fates required. Feel like the Astros are losing ground by staying in place.

Zack Greinke knows better. The Yankees have won August. But there is still a little ways till October. The true championship twists have not even begun.