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Josh Hader's Strong 2026 Season Could be Critical for the Houston Astros in the Postseason
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- Josh Hader's Strong 2026 Season Could be Critical for the Houston Astros in the Postseason
(John Jones-Imagn Images)
Photo Credit: Thomas Shea-Imagn Images
The Houston Astros have had an up-and-down season from the mound, but one player who has been quite consistent is closer and right-handed pitcher Josh Hader .
This season, whenever the Astros have needed Hader to deliver he has done that more often than not which is very clear when looking at his statistical performance.
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For the season, Hader has pitched 39.1 innings and has an overall record of 4-1. In the 39.1 innings Hader has pitched he has allowed 14 hits, one home run, three earned runs, walked 11 batters, and struck out 53 batters. Additionally, Hader has recorded 23 saves, a WHIP of 0.64, and an ERA of 0.69.
After looking at Hader's stats, it is quite evident that he is playing very well and has an argument to be one of the top closing pitchers in all of baseball.
From the mound, the Astros' problem has been a variety of things, but there are two main areas where the problems have come from.
The first area is the struggles that the Astros have had in terms of trying to find a pitcher who can provide length consistently and put Houston in a position to be able to close the game down the stretch.
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Throughout the season, the Astros have done their best to figure out who can provide length from the mound, but at this point that answer is very limited. Thus far, the two pitchers who have been the most consistent have been right-handed pitchers Peter Lambert and Hayden Wesneski , who are both having solid seasons.
The unfortunate fact is that in the postseason, Lambert and Wesneski need to be able to rest their arms, so Houston needs to figure out which players they can rely on consistently. Over the past month, right-handed pitcher AJ Blubaugh has looked good from the mound, so maybe he could be an option.
Regardless, the month of September will be crucial to finding a reliable pitching rotation for the postseason.
The second area that Astros have struggled with is depth in the bullpen. While Hader has been solid, outside of him Houston does not have a ton of players who have been able to close out games successfully.
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After Hader's 23 saves, the next closest player is right-handed pitcher Bryan Abreu with eight saves. This season, Abreu has also recorded an ERA of 3.70, so he could potentially be the answer for Houston in the postseason if he is able to keep up that performance.
Another solid option may be left-handed pitcher Steven Okert , who has posted an ERA of 2.13 and has an overall record of 6-2. Okert is on the 15-day IL right now with a right hamstring strain, but he is expected to return in about a week, so he should be ready to go and potentially contribute in the postseason.
So, if the Astros can get more length from the starters and find more depth in the bullpen, this is a team that could have a bounce-back performance in the postseason from the mound and potentially could lean on Hader with his incredible performance this season in the biggest games down the stretch.
