Shocking Stats Explain Houston Astros' Disastrous Start

The Houston Astros' terrible start to the 2024 season has baffled fans and experts alike. Given the team's recent track record of dominance, it's safe to say few people saw it coming.

At the end of the day, however, you are what your record says you are. For the Astros, that's 11-20 and last place in the AL West, even after winning four of their last five games.

A number of things have to go wrong for a team to lose twice as often as it wins. Bad luck can be part of the equation, but it doesn't explain all of it.

Before Houston's easy 8-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday, Michael Schwab took the liberty of diving into some not-so-fun facts that shed some light on the team's underwhelming performance so far.

A few of these in particular stand out and say something meaningful about the team's flaws.

Going 1-8 in one-run games is brutal, especially since those games are essentially coin-flips. It reflects the Astros' poor bullpen performance, struggles to get timely hits, and just some plain bad luck. Regarding clutch hits, the team has a .581 OPS in late and close situations and a .623 OPS with two outs and runners in scoring position -- both well below the team's overall .744 mark.

Going 3-11 when the opponent scores first indicates that Houston has had trouble mounting rallies and fighting to get back into games. This could be a result of the hitters pressing and trying to do too much when they fall behind.

Going 2-9 in games where the Astros don't hit a home run is alarming. Their offense needs to find other ways to score runs and can't simply rely on the long ball, especially early and late in the season when the weather is colder. It needs to capitalize on run-scoring opportunities and string together hits rather than just waiting to hit one out of the park.

Ten losses after leading is tough, as that accounts for half of the team's losses. Again, that speaks to lackluster bullpen performance. Houston's relievers are 3-10 with a 4.77 ERA and Josh Hader has been a trainwreck in the ninth inning.

Lastly, the Astros are winless when trailing after six innings. The offense has floundered in the late innings, batting .240/.314/.380 from the seventh inning on.

The numbers speak for themselves, and unfortunately, they don't have many good things to say.