Saturday brought more of the same for the sputtering Houston Astros, who got rocked by the Texas Rangers for the second day in a row, The Astros were in it early but fell apart late as the bullpen collapsed, surrendering four runs in the bottom of the eighth to let the game get out of hand.

On the plus side, Houston limited arch-nemesis Adolis Garcia to just one hit and one RBI. On the other hand, they allowed 14 hits to his teammates.

Houston dropped to 2-7 with the loss, falling into a tie with the moribund Oakland A’s for last place in the AL West.

Suffice it to say, this is not where the Astros thought they’d be at any point this year, even only a few weeks into the season. They’re now five games below .500 for the first time since June 2016, which was so long ago that Alex Bregman wasn’t even in the big leagues yet.

That’s not a good sign, as 2016 was also the last time Houston failed to make the playoffs. The 2024 Astros still have plenty of time to turn things around, but they need to do it soon if they want to avoid a similar fate.

Most of the blame falls on the offense, which has been largely non-existent for most of the season. Houston is averaging only 3.8 runs per game this year, well below last year’s mark of 5.1. The Astros’ cold bats have already squandered several solid pitching performances.

Houston’s pitching staff has been better but has also battled inconsistency, surrendering at least seven runs on three occasions already. The Astros badly miss Justin Verlander and Jose Urquidy, not to mention several critical relievers from last year.

One of the most underrated parts of Houston’s dynasty has been avoiding lengthy slumps, especially early in the season. The Astros have run into some bad luck and a tough schedule so far, but their flaws have been exposed.

There’s still time for them to fix those issues, but will they?