Houston Astros: Predicting 2024 Opening Day lineup ft. Jose Altuve and Justin Verlander

The Houston Astros have had a relatively quiet offseason, which was to be expected as GM Dana Brown indicated that they did not want to overspend in free agency. This might not have been what fans wanted to hear and watching the Los Angeles Dodgers build a super team must have been hard to watch.

That said, Houston is still a very good team and looks capable of winning the World Series in 2024. Given the playoff experience throughout their roster and that they are coming off a 90-72 season, the franchise does have a realistic shot at winning it all.

With Spring Training almost here, let's take a look at what their lineup come Opening Day might look like:

Houston Astros Opening Day lineup prediction

Projected Lineup

Jose Altuve 2B
Alex Bregman 3B
Yordan Alvarez DH
Jose Abreu 1B
Kyle Tucker OF
Yainer Diaz C
Chas McCormick OF
Jeremy Pena SS
Jake Meyers OF

Starting Pitchers

Justin Verlander
Framber Valdez
Cristian Javier
Hunter Brown
Jose Urquidy

Bullpen

Josh Hader
Ryan Pressly
Rafael Montero
Bryan Abreu
J.P. France
Ronel Blanco
Seth Martinez
Bennett Sousa

Expectations for the Houston Astros in 2024

Given that the LA Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Teoscar Hernandez in free agency and traded for Tyler Glasnow, they are the favorites for the World Series, along with the Atlanta Braves.

The Astros are next in the tier of teams that includes reigning champions, the Texas Rangers, as well as the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles.

This is certainly encouraging for Houston fans, as the bookmakers feel they have the ability to win it all and they also don't carry the same weight of expectations as the Dodgers. It's certainly impossible, given the outlook heading into Spring Training, to expect the Astros to win the World Series, but they do look primed for a postseason run.

Expect a strong season and don't be surprised if they make it to the championship series or beyond. The addition of Josh Hader as a closer will definitely help and it will be interesting to see just how far Houston can go in 2024.