BALTIMORE — Two days ago, after Delilah Gamel’s playdate in the park, her father learned the Houston Astros had claimed him off waivers. Ben Gamel got home, woke his wife to inform her and prepared to board an airplane bound for Baltimore. Baseball’s most bizarre juggernaut awaited him.
Gamel spent parts of three seasons with the Seattle Mariners, where “we were always chasing” and never able to catch the franchise he joined Thursday afternoon. Nothing about these Astros resembles those who destroyed the Mariners from 2016 to 2018, save a pint-sized second baseman and a culture that seems to stabilize any turbulence.
“There’s a reason why there’s been so much success in the history of this team recently,” rookie Shay Whitcomb said after a 6-0 win against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday. “Those veterans setting the course and creating an environment that is comfortable for us to come in and just start going immediately has been really special.”
Division leaders can function amid disarray, but what the Astros are doing defies any logic. Their best hitter might have suffered one of the worst shin contusions in recorded memory. Five of their starting pitchers suffered season-ending injuries. Their cornerstone third baseman can’t throw and might soon become…
