If there was ever a time to make a move for the Astros, this is it. Sitting just barely over .500, they face two utterly beatable teams in the Chicago Cubs and Oakland A's. By the time they get to the Brewers and Twins, they could have Jose Altuve back.

With fewer in-division games this year, and even those coming against seemingly better competition this year (other than the A's), there are no gimmies, but they need to get on a roll sometime.

Too much flirting with .500.

Are we the only one's absolutely sick of looking at the standings and seeing the Astros floating around the .500 mark? Despite the injuries, this is a team that should be better at this point in the season. By comparison, through 42 games in 2022, the Astros were 27-15 instead of this year's 23-19. Not a huge difference, but they ripped off seven wins in their next 10 games in 2022. This feels like the time they need to do that again. They've had a good stretch. Let's see more of that.

Struggles at the corners.

When you look at the Astros bats, you can look at two spots in the lineup that are absolutely killing them right now, the corner infielders. Yes, Martin Maldonado has been bad and guys like David Hensley are stinking up the joint, but no one counted on them. On the other hand, Alex Bregman and Jose Abreu were supposed to be run producers in the heart of the lineup. It kinda sorta feels like Bregman is starting to improve, but Abreu has clearly been the biggest disappointment of the season.

If they had those two guys hitting, they would be steamrolling teams offensively. Instead, they have the worst collective OPS since they were losing 100 games per season.

Pitching is a lot better than you think.

If you do some comparison to last season, the Astros pitching (starters and bullpen) are roughly the same in every major statistical category and starters have thrown more innings. That is considering they are missing Lance McCullers, Luis Garcia, Jose Urquidy and Justin Verlander. That is absolutely stunning. But, when you just think about it for a moment, it shouldn't surprise you.

Framber Valdez, setting aside his rough outing on Monday, has been the ace the Astros hoped he would be. Christian Javier and Hunter Brown have been outstanding at two and three in the rotation. And all Brandon Bielak and J.P. France have done is come in and protect the bullpen with quality starts. That is setting aside said bullpen, which is one of the best in baseball. This is a very, very good pitching staff.

Are the Yankees cheaters?

One non-Astro thing because it pokes fun at New York and that cannot be a bad thing. This week, the Yanks were hit with a pair of cheating allegations. First, a little side-eye from Aaron Judge over toward the dugout on a pitch he sent yard brought some questions. He claims he was just looking to see who in the dugout was chirping during his at bat. Sure thing.

Then, on Tuesday, pitcher Domino Germán was ejected from their game for an illegal substance. It hasn't been a banner year in the Bronx with injuries and underperforming in a division that includes the dominant Rays. Let's hope that continues.