The Houston Astros did not draw a ton of attention this season. Much of the talk around baseball has been about the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. Quietly, the Astros have been cruising for a few months. Pair that with the Yankees struggles and Houston finds itself five games up for home field advantage. One of the biggest reasons for the recent surge has been the play of third baseman Alex Bregman.

Bregman was named American League Player of the Month on Friday.

Alex Bregman had been hitting in the low .200's for most of the year. But as the weather warmed up, so did Bregman. He hit .362 with a bananas .452 on-base percentage. Bregman blasted seven home runs, drove in 22 runs and scored 27 times. Prior to August, he hit .233, .221, .273 and .242 the first four months of the season. He's been able to turn his season around and help put Houston in the position to make another deep playoff run.

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With one month remaining, the Astros are 37 games over .500 at 84-47. Considering all of the vile and hatred spewed toward the Astros following the cheating scandal, they are proving this year that they are flat out good baseball players.

Justin Verlander is likely to capture the Cy Young Award this year, along with Comeback Player of the Year. Yordan Alvarez took the next step in his career to becoming an elite power hitter. And, the combination of Bregman, Jose Altuve and Kyle Tucker have each played their part.

Altuve particularly also had a big month of August hitting .330.