WEST SACRAMENTO -- If the Astros miss the playoffs by one game for the second year in a row, they will spend sleepless nights in the offseason lamenting how the sixth inning went awry in the 160th game of the season Friday night at Sutter Health Park.

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WEST SACRAMENTO -- Astros rookie outfielder Lucas Spence may have saved the season Thursday night, and made some history in the process. Spence became the third player in Major League history to hit his first three career homers in the same game -- including a solo shot in the seventh

WEST SACRAMENTO -- After dealing with a pair of cysts in his left wrist that were limiting his mobility and causing him pain for three months, Astros veteran outfielder Daulton Varsho was placed on the 10-day injured list Thursday in a move that ends his season and could keep him

SEATTLE -- Understanding the gravity of every win or loss in the final week of the season, Astros manager Joe Espada squeezed every ounce out of his beleaguered pitching staff Wednesday night. So much so that he pushed closer Josh Hader for 44 pitches to try to close out a

SEATTLE -- It’s one thing to stand up in a team meeting and challenge your teammates to play better. It’s another to be the one showing them the way.

This story was excerpted from Brian McTaggart's Astros Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

HOUSTON -- It’s been seven months since the Astros reported to Spring Training in West Palm Beach, Fla., with their sights set on returning to the postseason after missing the playoffs by one game last year. The ups and downs of the summer have led us here -- the final

HOUSTON -- The frustration oozed out of Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez with every word he spoke to reporters in a hushed clubhouse on Sunday afternoon. It was only moments before that the stoic Alvarez did something he hasn’t done much in his career, speaking up in a players’ meeting following

HOUSTON -- With seven games remaining in the regular season, and now in second place in the American League West for the first time since late July, the Astros are faced with the stark reality that they no longer control their own fate. Which means they have to start stacking

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HOUSTON -- Is the American League Most Valuable Player race now a two-person competition between the Rays’ Junior Caminero and Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez? Not so fast, Alvarez’s manager Joe Espada and his teammates said Thursday, after the Astros slugger slammed his 40th homer of the season in a

HOUSTON -- A season that began with high hopes in March, meandered through the dogs days of summer and has zipped along quickly to the brink of fall will come down to the final 10 regular-season games for the Astros.

HOUSTON -- Several hours before the Astros hit the field Tuesday night to face the Royals, struggling stars Jeremy Peña and Yordan Alvarez took early batting practice on the field, desperate to break out of their prolonged offensive doldrums.

HOUSTON -- Carlos Correa pushed his rehabilitation from major ankle surgery as far as he could before realizing Tuesday that the best thing for his health was to end his comeback bid for this season. Correa won’t return to the Astros in the season’s final days, manager Joe Espada said,

This story was excerpted from Brian McTaggart’s Astros Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Astros have been in first place in the American League West since the beginning of August, but the gap between them and the AL’s best team -- the Tampa Bay Rays -- is a substantial one. That much was evident over the weekend at Tropicana Field,

ST. PETERSBURG -- Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez is back in the lineup for Sunday's series finale against the Rays. Alvarez, who was dealing with a sore right ankle, was out of the lineup for the second consecutive game Saturday, when Houston dropped a 3-2 contest to the Rays at Tropicana

ST. PETERSBURG -- Carlos Correa, who made the move from shortstop to third base last season when he was reacquired by the Astros in a trade with the Twins, could see time at second base if he returns from an ankle injury in the final weeks of the regular season.

Though not division rivals, the stakes are plenty high for both the Rays and Astros as the two first-place clubs prepare to meet for a weekend series at Tropicana Field. The Rays’ lead in the American League East is identical to the Astros’ advantage in the AL West. Tampa Bay

This story was excerpted from Brian McTaggart’s Astros Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

HOUSTON -- Yordan Alvarez’s grip on the American League’s Triple Crown has weakened in the last few weeks, the product of hitting only three homers since the start of August. Alvarez clubbed his career-high 38th homer of the season in the first inning of Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Diamondbacks

HOUSTON -- These are not your 2019 Astros, who featured the top two finishers in the American League Cy Young Award voting in Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole and was joined in July by Zack Greinke, who came in a trade from Arizona in July. That was a generational rotation

HOUSTON -- Like he does with nearly every save he gets, Astros closer Josh Hader secured the baseball from his final out and kept it for himself. Sometimes he’ll give the ball to the starting pitcher if the memento means more to him -- such as rookie Ethan Pecko getting

HOUSTON -- The Astros will be without one of their key bullpen weapons for at least the next 10 games after left-hander Steven Okert was placed on the 15-day injured list Friday with a right hamstring strain. Fellow southpaw Bryan King was recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land. Okert entered Friday