Houston’s offseason plan centers on preserving core stability while addressing two free-agent questions. Framber Valdez and Victor Caratini are the only consequential free agents from the current roster, with Valdez anchoring the rotation and Caratini handling catching. The rest of the star core—Altuve, Alvarez, Peña, and Brown among others—remains under team control for the near term, creating room to balance extensions, arbitration, and payroll without a full rebuild.

Beyond Valdez and Caratini, the horizon features a mix of arbitration-eligible depth and aging or longer-term contracts. Key decisions will revolve around how aggressively Houston retains or replaces pieces like Abreu, Dubón, Urías, and McCullers, while mapping out long-term commitments for a championship window that runs through the late 2020s and into 2030s via extensions and option structure.

Houston's eight-year playoff run ends as Cleveland clinches the final AL playoff berth with a 3-2 win over Texas. The decisive moment came when C.J. Kayfus was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the ninth, delivering the go-ahead run for the Guardians. Houston's season sagged under injuries and upheaval—Yordan Alvarez missed significant time, Alex Bregman left for Boston, Kyle Tucker went to Chicago, and Hader, Peña, and Paredes spent stretches on the IL. Seattle surged, Oakland steadied up, and Detroit kept pace, but the Astros will miss the postseason for the first time since 2016. The Guardians advance, and Houston’s offseason starts with a broad reckoning.

From a fantasy lens, Cleveland’s ascent signals a depth-forward approach with a resilient bullpen and a young core, while Houston’s rebuild will reframe value with new faces and potential late-round standouts. The domino effect across the AL West and Central should reshape draft boards and strategy for 2026.

Houston's late-season tumble leaves them one game behind Detroit for the final AL wild-card, despite a deadline trio that sparked optimism: Jesús Sánchez, Ramón Urías and a Carlos Correa reunion. Sánchez has cratered, Urías has seen little action as Mauricio Dubón handles infield duties, and Correa’s bat, while solid, isn’t delivering a game-changing push. Yordan Álvarez’s injury and a battered pitching staff amplify the misstep, leading Chandler Rome to call the moves unproductive.

Correa has been the lone bright spot with a .286/.348/.427 line and six homers across 210 PAs, but the rest has fallen short of expectation. The combination of Sanchez’s collapse, Urías’s diminished role, Álvarez’s absence and pitching injuries has Houston scrambling to salvage a season that once looked like a postseason lock.