The San Diego Padres and Houston Astros will cap off their three-game series in Texas soon, which has been an entertaining matchup. Can the Astros take care of business at home?

The Padres have a solid argument for making the playoffs with the NL Wild Card spot. At 20^th in the league overall, they still have to perform well the rest of this month. Matt Waldron (0-2), with an ERA of 5.12, will attempt success on the mound here.

Their batting average ratio needs to improve if they want any chances at the playoffs. They are good for .240 at the plate, but give up .238. They will need to increase production to stand with the Astros here.

They excel at reaching base, boasting a .326 OBP. As a collective, their pitching performance stands strong with a 3.79 ERA. However, it is worth noting that their slugging percentage, at .410, falls slightly short of the Astros'.

The Padres could make the NL West interesting if they were to have a dominant month, as they are less than seven games from second. They are still about 20 away from the leading Los Angeles Dodgers, but they can at least make some noise.

The Astros will likely move up a spot in the rankings, as they are currently sixth but have had a solid week. They need to finish strong against a weaker team and to remain consistent heading into the playoffs. J.P. France (10-5) should be good on the mound with an ERA of 3.72.

Their batting average ratio is stronger than the Padres’. They are putting up .260 and allowing .244 from their opponents. As long as they do a good job on the mound, the rest of their production should follow suit.

Their averages are slightly better in a handful of areas, such as their OBP (.332) and slugging percentage (.436). However, their pitching as a whole is slightly weaker at 3.97. 

The Astros are continuing to fight for the lead in the AL West, as they have been battling the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers. This will likely go down to the wire at the end of this month.

MyBookie has revealed that the Houston Astros are slight favorites to pull off the victory here. Looking at the market analysis, it indicates that the Astros have a 67.3 percent probability to close out the series strong.

The Astros need this win more than the Padres, but they also need to get momentum going. Look for the Astros to come out with strong pitching and land another win in this series.