The Houston Astros are one of the best teams in baseball and are 1.5 games back of having the best record. The Astros are winning games despite not having some of their best players available. After their latest injury move, the Astros now have a league-leading 18 players on the IL, more than the Los Angeles Dodgers.

On Friday, the Astros placed left-handed starter Brandon Walter on the IL. He joins Luis Garcia, Lance McCullers Jr., Cristian Javier, J.P. France, Spencer Arrighetti, Shawn Dubin, Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski, and Glenn Otto on the IL as just pitchers. The Astros also have some of their best talent on the IL offensively. Yordan Alvarez, Jeremy Pena, Isaac Paredes, and Jake Meyers are also on the IL. Despite this, Houston is 60-43 and leading the AL West by five games over the Seattle Mariners.

Walter has started nine games for the Astros this season. In those nine games, he has won only one of them, but has pitched well and improved as he went on. Walter has a 3.35 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 52 strikeouts, and only four walks on the season. He pitched so great that his WAR reached 1.4 in just nine appearances. In his last outing, Walter allowed just one run on four hits in 7.0 innings pitched. He allowed just four runs in his last three starts combined.

The Astros are losing a great young pitcher with elbow inflammation. It's unclear at this time how long he will be on the injured list.

It won't be easy with all the injuries, but Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown must hold down the fort for as long as possible. Colton Gordon will have a significantly improved role, and so will Ryan Gusto. But those two can't be relied on to win games on their own. Look for the Astros to consider trading for a starter to provide needed depth as the MLB Trade Deadline approaches. Manager Joe Espada's squad is more than capable of winning another World Series. But if they want that to be the reality, then they need to get healthier.

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