HOUSTON -- What a week it's been for the Houston Astros. It was the kind of stretch that could send even one of baseball's most talented units into a tailspin. Yet for a lot of reasons related to baseball and beyond, the Astros look better situated than they have been since before the All-Star break.
Because of the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, this is a week that will not soon be forgotten in Houston, and the Astros' saga has played a small part in that. So, too, may their fortunes play a role in the recovery, as the city rallies around a club that is a cinch to win its first division crown since 2001, and is in prime position to win its first-ever World Series crown.
If that happens, this week will serve as the "overcoming adversity" section of the narrative for the team's season highlight reel.
And the acquisition of powerhouse righty Justin Verlander might be looked at as the moment that it all started springing back in the right direction.
"From the clubhouse, I think it's kind of impossible to overstate the kind of energy that a move like this puts into the group," manager A.J. Hinch said. "From the text messages to the calls to the overall excitement of our club, these additions are a huge boost on the energy and makeup component, but more importantly the baseball component. Justin Verlander is a hands-down the best possible outcome we could have had (Thursday night)."
Verlander was introduced to the local media on Sunday before the Astros' 8-6 win over the New York Mets. A script note for that highlight reel: Include this response from Carlos Correa when he was asked about his reaction to hearing about the Verlander trade while he was out on an injury rehab stint in the minor leagues:
"Down in the minor leagues, I was so excited I threw my remote control and hit the ceiling and broke it," Correa said. "I was just excited to add a power arm to our rotation."
As usual, it won't be so simple as "Verlander plus existing rotation equals automatic title," but there are a lot of reasons for Houston to be freshly excited about a baseball team it was already pretty darned excited about. There's Verlander, and outfielder Cameron Maybin, nabbed off waivers last week, who can serve as a spare outfielder and pinch-runner extraordinaire. There's the return of Correa, who was activated before Sunday's game. Lance McCullers (back injury) is scheduled to make his first big league start since July 30 on Wednesday on Seattle.
In other words, it all seems to be coming back together for a team that has been as many as 34 games over .500 but went 20-22 while Correa was on the shelf.
"I don't think that having different things to deal with means we've disappeared," Hinch said. "I do feel like things are starting to pick up.
"But I also think the calendar flipping to September and the energy that comes with that, the opportunity to close this thing out and win the division, becomes more real when the numbers get a little bit smaller. We can start to focus on the last part of the season."
The analysis tells us that the postseason impact of the deadline acquisition of an ace has historically been marginal, most likely due to the random nature and the small sample sizes of the playoffs. Of course, random doesn't have to be negative. The probability of Verlander throwing unhittable stuff in any given outing is higher than it is for most.
If Verlander's macro-level performance from the past few years isn't markedly better than what the Astros had on hand, his predilection for dominance might be the trait that manifests just when you most need it to. You might even mistake that trait for the baseball concept of "presence" and that's a big reason why Hinch and his players are so excited.
"When you have him and you put him on the lineup card, and the players know coming to the field that we have Justin Verlander on our side, we're going to feel like we're going to win," Hinch said. "What does that do for a team? I don't know exactly, but it gives you that confidence that when you roll out a different pitcher every day and you feel like you're going to win, you're going to win a lot of games."
It's hard not to wade into the uncertain waters of the intangible in a spot like this. As you may recall, the Astros took a lot of flak for not making a splash at the July deadline.
"When we didn't make any major moves at the end of July, people said the sky was falling and we ruined an opportunity to win a championship and so forth," general manager Jeff Luhnow said. "But you can't let that sort of criticism and that sort of feedback affect what you're trying to do. We've constantly keep the best interests of the Astros in mind in every move that we make."
The thing is, it wasn't just outside criticism. With the club struggling with health and the wins becoming harder to come by, star pitcher Dallas Keuchel and veteran outfielder Josh Reddick both went public in discussing the disappointment awash in the clubhouse. In fact, Reddick was almost at it again on Thursday. When it appeared that no deal would be struck, he tweeted:
— Josh Reddick (@RealJoshReddick) September 1, 2017
— Josh Reddick (@RealJoshReddick) September 1, 2017
"I'm a GIF master," Reddick said.
Still, if Verlander is Verlander, and his arrival, spiked with the return of Houston's collective health, sparks a run of happy times, maybe that is all the impact he needs to make.
"It's huge," outfielder George Springer said. "It's awesome. It's going to be great to have a rotation like that. Our guys have been great all year. To add in a bona fide guy like that, I know as a hitter, it's not going to be fun to game plan against that."
It almost didn't happen. In talks that Luhnow said have been on and off since last offseason, even after the prospect package and the financial terms were agreed to, Verlander still had to sign off because of the no-trade clause he'd earned as a five-and-10 player.
That part of the equation didn't come together until literally the last minute.
"At one point, I was just pacing back and forth in my living room and it was just (girlfriend) Kate (Upton) and I," Verlander said. "I'm going 'trust your instincts, trust your instincts.' Well, what are your instincts telling you? I mean, I was so caught in between with emotion and the excitement of a new ballclub. Ultimately, it can down to winning and enjoying an organization that is set up to win for a long time."
The Verlander deal happened in the hours after the Astros had first returned to Houston after playing a relocated series against the Texas Rangers in St. Petersburg, Florida. The aftermath the next morning played out while the club plunged headlong into the city's relief efforts.
Then during Game 1 of a doubleheader marking Houston's emotional return to Minute Maid Park on Saturday, Verlander showed up. He was introduced on the video board during the second game. The Astros took both contests.
"It's a tough decision to make," Verlander said. "All those feelings and all those emotions that come with it are what was running through my mind. Ultimately, I'm really happy with the choice I made. As the emotional side of it kind of subsided, the next morning I woke up and thought 'I'm going to a playoff atmosphere.' This is it. This what we play this game for."
That emotional roller coaster is one that everybody in the Houston clubhouse can appreciate. For Hinch, he's never had a week in baseball like the past one.
"No, and honestly, given the catastrophe, I don't want another one, either," Hinch said. "Where I've seen where the city was, to where it is today, it's better today than it was yesterday. It will be better every single day that we move away from the storm. Obviously, I'd love Mother Nature to stay away for a while. She's done her damage. In baseball, no, you wouldn't wish this upon any team, winning or losing or anywhere in between."
The only thing linear about a baseball season is the actual passing of time. Beyond that, it's an EKG readout gone amok. You're good, then you're bad. You're lucky, then you're not. You're healthy, then your star shortstop takes a fastball off his hand. Your baseline is something you never really adhere to, but only discover in retrospect, and even that is subject to the immutable laws of dynamism.
For the Astros, their 2017 season has taken an unusual shape. There have been more peaks than valleys, but the peaks have been exceptionally high, and the valleys haven't been that low. That's the way of a great team. Yet there is no question that with the postseason coming fast down the pike, the duration of the negative trend was becoming increasingly worrisome, especially as the AL Central's Cleveland Indians caught fire and closed the gap in the race for the league's top record.
"Even though we weren't as dominant during that stretch of (42) games, we asked a lot of different things from guys," Hinch said. "(Alex) Bregman rarely got a day off. Marwin Gonzalez had to play primarily the infield. We had to call up a number of young guys to try and fill in the gap a little bit.
"I think you learn a little bit about the resiliency of your team, but I also think the thing you learn about is how connected these guys are, how much they feed off of each other."
All great stories have obstacles that are overcome in order for the payoff to reach the emotional crescendo that you love to see in a great drama. Early on, the Astros might have looked like their 2017 season would be a breeze, but for six weeks, they faced more than their fair share of hurdles. We'll find out over the next month if McCullers can recover his pre-injury form; if Keuchel can do the same; if Correa resumes his MVP-caliber trek; if Verlander continues to throw like it's 2010; if his addition allows Hinch to create extra layers of versatility in his bullpen with whomever is dropped from the rotation.
But for now, as the Astros head out for another road trip, it sure feels like it's all coming back together.
"The fight in this room is exceptional," Hinch said. "We haven't conceded anything. We haven't taken anything for granted. We've really tried to push through all of this as one collective unit."