Astros' pitching injury nightmare makes Mariners flipping script feel more permanent

Nobody in the Pacific Northwest is going to weep for the Astros. They're the default bad guys in the AL West, and the Mariners have been in payback mode against them ever since the 2022 ALDS. As seen in their 29-14 record against Houston since then, it's going well.

If anything, the question now is how much longer the Astros will even remain a worthy opponent.

Even setting aside the Mariners' recent performance against the Astros — not to mention last year's overturning of AL West superiority — there's now the fact that Houston's roster has become an injured mess. They added shortstop Jeremy Peña and right-hander Tatsuya Imai to the injured list on Monday.

The latter is especially noteworthy, as he's one of six starting pitchers on the IL for Houston. Also on there are ace Hunter Brown and a couple of erstwhile top-of-the-rotation types in Cristian Javier and Ronel Blanco. The Astros' rotation is a skeleton crew as a result, resulting in many crossed fingers in Houston that Lance McCullers Jr. will buck his recent injury history.

As the Mariners know well from their recent four-game sweep of the Astros, all these injuries are not going unfelt in games. The Astros have allowed 113 runs, the second-most in their history through 18 games. Their pitching is worse than their offense is good, as it just isn't often that a team achieves MLB's worst record despite leading the league in runs scored.

Mariners have their own problems, but at least their pitching isn't ruined

To be fair, the Mariners are pretty much a mirror-universe version of the Astros. Whereas Houston has been all offense and no pitching, it's the other way around in Seattle:

• Runs Scored: 70, T-20th in MLB
• Runs Allowed: 62, T-7th in MLB

Yet this also speaks to something the Astros know from their decade-long journey as the mainstay power in the AL West: When all else fails, pitching usually doesn't.

They had their share of great hitters during their run of eight straight playoff appearances between 2017 and 2024, but it was really their arms that sustained them. For those eight seasons, they allowed the fewest runs in the American League.

Albeit in different ways, the Mariners have since borrowed this model and are arguably even improving on it. T-Mobile Park has certainly helped, but it's far from the only reason that Seattle's 3.66 ERA since 2022 is the best in MLB.

Better still, it may be that the best is still to come. Seattle's current starting rotation already has a case as the best in baseball, and it's just a matter of time before hot-shot prospects like Kade Anderson and Ryan Sloan join the fray. Between that and how Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, Josh Naylor and (eventually) Colt Emerson are locked into the lineup for the long haul, the Mariners are positioned to make the AL West their playground for a long time.

Perhaps it should feel premature to be dancing on the grave of the Astros' dynasty… but then again, it just doesn't. The end had to come eventually, and all the injuries are doing is speeding up the timeline.

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