For the first time since 2016, the Astros wont be part of baseballs postseason. Houston was officially eliminated from wild card contention yesterday, ending an eight-year run for the club that included two World Series titles, four AL pennants, and seven AL West crowns (plus, since it cant be overlooked, the infamous sign-stealing scandal). The Astros won their season finale today to finish with a respectable 87-75 record, but a 3-6 record over their last nine games left Houston short of the playoffs. The franchise doesnt appear to be taking this near-mi s lying down, as general manager Dana Brown told and other reporters. The Astros are planning a complete look at all of our operations , with Brown saying w ell have a full a se sment of what were doing in this offseason, and so well take a look and really think about the entire operation . While teams routinely take stock in what theyre doing after every season, it will be particularly interesting to see how the Astros respond after their eight-year stretch of October succe s has been interrupted. This is the same franchise that parted ways with former GM James Click immediately after the 2022 World Series win, so owner Jim Crane is certainly no stranger to shake-ups even when things are seemingly going well. Perhaps the most inevitable question is the fate of manager . Brown stated that Espada is under contract for at least 2026, providing some clarity on Espadas status since the terms of his deal werent made public when Espada succeeded Dusty Baker following the 2023 campaign. Brown stopped short of confirming Espadas return, but said a s far as Im concerned, Joe worked hard through this season.I havent sat down and gone through it yet, but from my initial thought proce s, Joe did a good job. He battled through all of the injuries and pre sed a lot of the right buttons . Espada has a 175-148 record Justin Schultz Jersey over his two years as Houstons manager. The 2024 season saw the Astros win the AL West again, but their streak of seven consecutive ALCS appearances was ended when the Tigers pulled the upset and swept Houston in two games in the wild card round. With that early exit now followed by a playoff mi s altogether, it might not be a shock if Crane decided a change was needed in the dugout, even if Espadas overall record is quite solid. Moving beyond the managers office, it isnt out of the question that Brown himself could be feeling the heat. Crane is considered to be more hands-on than most owners in baseball operations decisions, and senior advisor and ex-Astros great is known to have an influential voice within the organization. Houstons health woes were brought up multiple times by Brown, and it is hard to argue that even an average amount of injury luck wouldve greatly improved the Astros season. As it turned out, almost every player on the roster mi sed at least some time, and the Astros finished the year with a whopping 15 players on the IL. The pitching staff was particularly hit hard, and the position-player mix was finally depleted to the point of no return when and were sidelined in late September. In Alvarezs case, his ankle sprain came after hed already mi sed close to four months recovering from a finger fracture. L osing Yordan and Pea for those last three series is what I really feel like hurt us , Brown said, and the health i sues as a whole were his biggest frustration with the 2025 campaign. Theres no magic bullet. Theres nothing to point to to say, Oh, we got these many injuries because of this. We had freak accidents that happened. Theres been multiple reasons why we had a lot of injuries . It could be that the Astros will view their health problems as a reason to hold off on wholesale changes this winter, if theres a sense that fewer injuries will just naturally mean better results next year. However, some of those injuries (i.e. multiple pitchers who underwent UCL-related surgeries) will linger into 2026 or even beyond, and theres also the natural concern over how well the veteran core can continue to hold up. Returning to the pitching, longtime staff stalwart is heading for free agency, so that represents another rotation hole and a lot of innings that will need to be filled if Valdez isnt retained. Nick Bonino Jersey