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.