Astros Wild Stat Could Indicate Major Playoff Success Coming This October

The Houston Astros have had an incredible first half of the season based on what most people expected them to be this year following a rough winter.

Losing two of their key players and seemingly headed towards a rebuild, very few expected the Astros to be firmly in first place headed into the All-Star break and looking capable of potentially winning a championship once again.

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There's a lot to be worked out over the next several months, however Houston has entrenched itself as a force to be reckoned with in an extremely manageable American League, a scary sight indeed for the rest of baseball.

One statistic above all else, though, is by far the greatest indicator of not just why they had success in the first half, but also why there is more success -- and potentially a very deep run in October -- to come.

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The Astros have played their absolute best against the best teams they have faced, obviously something which is critical when it comes to winning in the playoffs.

As pointed out by Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Houston has by far the best record in baseball when going up against other first-place teams.

Playing 15 games of such nature, the Astros are a staggering 13-2 in those matchups while the next closest team is the Philadelphia Phillies at just 10-8. Even more notable is the fact that outside of Houston and Philadelphia, none of the other four first-place teams even have a winning record against other first-place teams.

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Now, this can of course be looked at as one of very many wacky outliers in this wacky game fans and statisticians try to dissect every single day, but for the Astros to be that much ahead of the rest of their peers has to at least say something.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist or analytics guru to tell you that when October rolls around, you are going to be going up against some really great teams.

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And no one has been even close to as good as Houston has when it comes to finding ways to win games against those same teams.

If they can continue that trend, there's no reason to think anything but another very deep run is ahead for the Astros.

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