To say that the 2024 MLB season was a turbulent one for the Houston Astros would be a massive understatement.

From injuries and underwhelming performances by veteran players to team rookies and underdogs emerging as breakout stars, this season has been nothing if not unpredictable. The Astros went through periods of loss and triumph, proving themselves as one of the most resilient teams in baseball before their crushing defeat at the hands of the Detroit Tigers in the Wild Card round. The loss snapped the Astros’s streak of seven straight American League Championship Series appearances. Even in such a negative situation, there are reasons to be proud of what Houston has accomplished this year and look optimistically towards the team’s future.

The Astros started the season with injuries to key starting pitchers Justin Verlander, Luis Garcia, Lance McCullers Jr. and Jose Urquidy and in their first four games of the season were humiliatingly swept by the New York Yankees. Free agent signings of the past couple of offseasons like Josh Hader and Jose Abreu, who were originally supposed to all but guarantee another Astros championship because of how dominant they’d been with their previous teams, struggled mightily in Houston. Abreu in particular was eventually demoted to the minor leagues and ultimately released from the team. This culminated in the Astros falling to 24-12 through their first 36 games of the season, one of the worst starts in team history.

Despite these circumstances, pitcher Hunter Brown and designated hitter Yordan Alvarez both stepped up, having fantastic months and putting the team on their backs to help the Astros get back on the right track. In fact, the Astros would go on to have 63 wins to 40 losses since June 1, the best record since that date in the American League.

What’s responsible for this turnaround? Most of it is due to the ability of older players to excel. After a shaky start to his season, closer Josh Hader racked up 25 consecutive saves, a franchise record for the longest save streak by an Astros pitcher. Struggling pitcher Framber Valdez and 31-year-old rookie Ronel Blanco both put great starts together in all of their games, propelling themselves into the top six on MLB’s ERA leaderboard.

These types of turnarounds don’t happen by themselves. It takes good leadership and a strong team culture to turn adversity into success, and first-year manager Joe Espada has shown he is capable of developing himself into a leader, learning from mistakes and adapting to the team’s situation. His emphasis on communication and clarity with his players has certainly paid off and made the transition from Dusty Baker much easier for the organization.

With so many injured or underperforming players, a handful of new faces had to be brought into the lineup, called up from the Astros’s minor league system. Their ability to be key contributors has been instrumental, whether it be rookies like Spencer Arrigheti, who became the first rookie pitcher in AL history to have at least 12 strikeouts in back-to-back games, or veterans like first baseman Jon Singleton, who revived his career and became a reliable presence at first base after Jose Abreu’s collapse.

The fact that these players have managed to become valuable additions to the roster even without the luxury of having time to adjust to the major league level is another testament to the leadership and development ability of the coaching staff that Espada leads. It’s also a sign of a bright future in Houston, even as critical players like Justin Verlander and Alex Bregman are set to leave the team this offseason.

Despite these individual performances helping the Astros to rebound from their slump, the injured starting rotation was still a glaring weakness, so in a controversial move the Astros acquired the Blue Jays’ Yusei Kikuchi on July 29 to help add depth to the pitching staff, looking to finish strong in the season’s last couple of months. The trade cost the Astros two valuable prospects in Jake Bloss and Joey Loperfido, but it would pay off. Despite being inconsistent on his former team, Kikuchi became sensational on the Astros and his success can be attributed to tweaks to his playstyle that the Astros’s pitching coaches helped him to make.

While the Astros couldn’t quite overcome their pitfalls this year, having a manager who knows how to communicate with players and lead a team could help motivate players to come back with renewed motivation next season. The fact that Espada has led the team to turn a bad situation into one this successful in just his first year as a big-league manager is a good sign of things to come. It’s been a difficult year with an undoubtedly disappointing result, but fans should have faith that the team is in good hands.