The case for the Astros to win it all

What's better than winning the World Series? Winning it on multiple occasions in a row — and that's what the Houston Astros are going to be going for this season. If you're an Astros fan and you're reading this, then the good news for you is that they are well-equipped to make a serious run at repeating as World Series champions. While other contenders have made big offseason acquisitions (even with this being an abnormally slow offseason), the Astros brought in Gerrit Cole to help fortify their already-strong rotation and they kept their historically-good lineup intact. Just how good will the Astros be? Let's count the ways.

Why the Astros could win it all in 2018:

Astro-nomical offense. If it seems like the Astros offense was extremely good and had no weak points, that's because it really was. According to the advanced stat known as wRC+ (which you can read about here), the 2017 Astros were one of the greatest offensive teams in the history of the game. They should be mentioned in the same breath as those legendary "Murderer's Row" Yankees teams from the 1920s.

Familiar faces. That's how good the 2017 Astros were at the plate and the entire starting lineup from that team will be returning for their title defense in 2018. That means that pitching staffs in the American League will once again have to figure out how to somehow contain a lineup that is nine-deep. This is a lineup where the designated hitter (Evan Gattis) is nowhere near being considered as the premier batter in this lineup. Instead, guys like Carlos Correa, George Springer, Alex Bregman and their talisman Jose Altuve are going to be the main ones doing damage. Good luck stopping them!

More arms, more better. Meanwhile on the mound, Houston's starting rotation was already solid to begin with from the ace to the fifth guy. This was not a glaring weakness for the Astros, but they addressed it anyway by trading for Gerrit Cole. The addition of Justin Verlander was enough to help put Houston over the top and now one of the top pitchers in the game will be joining the likes of Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers as well. Last season, Keuchel was vocal about his disappointment in his team's lack of action on the trade market. Do you think that he's happy now?

Simply put, combining the continuity of bringing back a historically-good offense with an improved rotation that was already one of the best in baseball, you have the recipe for a potential juggernaut of a baseball team.

Why they won't win it all in 2018:

Simple math and some bad luck.  The only question now is whether or not we'll have one of those years where the unexpected happens. On paper, the Astros are super strong from top to bottom. However, baseball isn't a game that's played on paper or in a spreadsheet or database. It's played on the field, where all sorts of variables like injuries, under-performance and even a surprise team can pop up. Repeating as champs is hard to do. It hasn't been done in nearly two decades.

Who knows? We could see the Angels make a run if the likes of Justin Upton, Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout play well enough. There could be a team completely under the radar who's ready to strike. We could see Houston's poor defensive skills come back to bite them at an extremely inopportune occasion.

There are all sorts of things that can happen, but that doesn't mean they will. The Astros are are going to be very, very good this year and you really shouldn't be shocked to see Houston make a return to the World Series in 2018.