2026 MLB playoffs: Offseason questions for eliminated teams - ESPN

October never even started for Jose Altuve & Co.

Suffering a wild-card sweep against the Chicago White Sox, the Houston Astros became the first team to make an exit in the 2026 MLB playoffs — on the last day of September.

So, what's next for Houston — and all of the other towns that won't be celebrating a World Series parade this fall? For every eliminated contender this October, ESPN MLB experts Jorge Castillo, Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez, Jesse Rogers and David Schoenfield list its key free agents and biggest offseason questions and also make their predictions for the long, cold winter ahead.

Eliminated by: Chicago White Sox

Key free agents: RHP Bryan Abreu, 3B Isaac Paredes (club option, converted to mutual option if Paredes lands in top 10 of AL MVP balloting)

Biggest offseason priority: The Astros navigated the stretch run without a general manager after Dana Brown was let go in late August. That was after the draft and the trade deadline, so the committee guiding the front office was able to make it work. Going forward, the Astros will need to find or promote a new lead executive, then empower him to implement his own processes. Given the influence of owner Jim Crane and ex-player Jeff Bagwell, a vocal analytics skeptic in the past, the outcome of the search will tell us a lot about how the higher-ups in Houston see the landscape of best practices in the industry. That can be good, or not, but either way it's time the Astros returned some continuity to their most important baseball operations position.

How much weight should the Astros put on this playoff appearance? Of course the Astros deserved to celebrate the latest in the spree of division titles the franchise has won over the past decade. And it's