Astros' horrible start continues with ugly series loss to Nationals

The Houston Astros have been a model of success and consistency with seven consecutive appearances in the American League Championship Series. That run has included four World Series appearances and two championships. They look nothing like that team so far this season, and with Sunday's 6-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, the Astros find themselves at the bottom of the American League standings with a shocking 7-16 record. 

The Astros dropped two of three games in the series against an opponent that might have been seen as an opportunity to start turning their season around.

It is one of the worst starts in franchise history while only the Miami Marlins, Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox have a worse record in the majors. 

The main culprit in the slow start is a pitching staff that has been decimated by injuries and has been unable to find any consistency.

After Sunday's game, they have already had to call on 23 different pitchers through the first 23 games of the season, including eight different starters.

The Astros have not only had to burn through several arms, but those arms have not been effective.

In fact, they have just been flat-out terrible.

The Astros entered play on Sunday with a 5.03 team ERA that ranked 29th in the league ahead of only Colorado, while also issuing the second most walks (98) in the league. The starters have struggled, the bullpen (supposedly a strength) has been a disappointment and outside of Ronel Blanco and Cristian Javier, none of the starters have been reliable. 

The good news for the Astros is it is still early in the season, and they not only have time to turn it around, they have a proven track record of elite play. They are also still getting some productive at-bats from their stars in the lineup including Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez. Alex Bregman, their star third basemen, is also off to an extremely slow start and it is reasonable to assume that he will start hitting again. 

There is time to turn it around. But this is not where anybody expected the Astros to be one month into the season. It is also not a place they have been in for more than a decade.