The Houston Astros had a disappointing 2025 season, missing the postseason for the first time since 2016 due to injuries to key players. The team made minimal offseason changes, which has negatively impacted their performance in the early 2026 season.
Astros fans won't like seeing where their team sits in latest power rankings originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The 2025 season was a disaster for the Houston Astros. Plenty of core players were injured, leading to them missing the postseason for the first time since 2016.
During the offseason, the club parted ways with its medical trainer and a few others in the coaching staff. On top of that, they also lost Framber Valdez, Mauricio Dubon, Victor Caratini, and a few others over the offseason.
They didn't make any big splashes over the winter other than signing Tatsuya Imai on a three-year deal. And that has come back to haunt them early in the 2026 season.
MORE:Astros get terrible news on Jeremy Pena, Tatsuya Imai amid major injury woes
While the team was looking to get past the injury bug this year, they haven't. They have a ton of players on the IL right now, like Imai, Jeremy Pena, Josh Hader, Jake Meyers, Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and a few more.
It's pretty difficult getting anything going when you have that many contributors on the IL.
They are coming off quite a rough week, being swept by the Colorado Rockies and then the Seattle Mariners, dropping them to 6-10 on the year.
With what they did over the past week, Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter ranks them as the worst team across MLB.
"The Astros lead the majors with 93 runs scored, but their pitching staff has also served up an MLB-high 101 runs while pitching to a 6.49 ERA and 1.70 WHIP through 16 games. They have lost seven straight, and with Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier both nursing shoulder injuries, things could get worse before they get better on the mound."
Pitching has not been a strong suit for the Astros this season, and that was the thought when Valdez signed his deal with the Detroit Tigers over the offseason.
This certainly is not where the fans thought their team would sit just a few weeks into the new year, but here they are. Luckily for them, it's still early, and there is plenty of time to turn this ship around.
The Astros faced significant injuries to core players, which contributed to their failure to make the postseason.
The Astros parted ways with several players, including Framber Valdez, Mauricio Dubon, and Victor Caratini, impacting their roster depth.
The Astros signed Tatsuya Imai to a three-year deal, but this decision has not yielded positive results early in the 2026 season.
LIV Golf's future appears uncertain as reports suggest Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund may withdraw funding after investing $5 billion. Despite assurances for the 2026 season, the tour faces challenges from low ratings and strong competition from the PGA Tour.
Mike Trout's 446-foot HR joins him with Aaron Judge in Yankee Stadium lore.
Detroit Tigers projected to take a risk on a 6'3" prep bat in the MLB draft.
Arshdeep Singh makes history as the first PBKS bowler to reach 100 IPL wickets!
California's top high school football prospects are on the move this weekend.
Viktor Hovland shines with a 64 at RBC Heritage, Gotterup scores 70.
See every story in Sports ā including breaking news and analysis.