During the Houston Astros game against the Texas Rangers on Monday night, amid a tightly contested AL West postseason race, the Astros saw one of their stars, Yordan Alvarez, go down with an injury.
He twisted his ankle as he crossed home plate and was immediately taken out of the game. After missing significant time earlier in the year, this injury makes things even more difficult for Houston and Alvarez.
Chandler Rome of The Athletic shared the latest on Alvarez’s injury, as Astros manager Joe Espada revealed the significant and unfortunate injury news for the Astros’ All-Star slugger.
Yordan Alvarez is expected to miss the rest of the regular season
Espada revealed that Alvarez has a “pretty significant” injury and will be “out for a while,” as Rome reports. It’s a tough update for the Astros, and especially Alvarez, who had fought back from a brutal hand injury that kept him out for the majority of the year.
Yordan Alvarez has a “pretty significant” left ankle sprain that will keep him “out for a while,” Joe Espada said.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) September 16, 2025
Afterward, Espada was asked for clarification on a timeline for Alvarez, and his comments don’t paint a positive picture. Rome shared Espada’s answer, as he said, “Did you hear what I said? This is going to take some time. Listen, one day at a time. I’m not going to give you days, weeks, what we’re going to do next.”
While Espada didn’t reveal a specific timeline for Alvarez to return to the roster, this update doesn’t bode well for the Astros slugger. Houston, amid a tight race for the AL West crown after falling out of the top spot in the division, will have to make up ground without Alvarez, potentially, for the rest of the season.
Losing Alvarez for the second time this season stings, and it hurts even more than his long absence earlier in the year. He played 29 games before hitting the injured list earlier in the year, and he was hitting just .210 with a .646 OPS. It wasn’t a good start, though fortunately, his injury happened early in the year, giving him time to return.
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After coming back on August 26th, Alvarez has been on a tear. Through the 19 games he played in since his return, Alvarez had a .369 batting average with a 1.031 OPS. He was one of the Astros’ best hitters and was rebounding from an injury and a rough start to 2025.
But now, he’s going to miss some time once more this season. He’s not hitting the injured list as of now, as the Astros hold out hope that he could return later in 2025.
The 28-year-old went through a long recovery to make it back to the Astros, which makes this injury, which happened a few weeks before the postseason and amid a tight postseason race, sting all the more for the Astros and Alvarez.
As Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports, the Astros are expected to be without Alvarez for rhe rest of the regular season. With just 11 games left, it’s hardly a surprise that Alvarez won’t return with his significant ankle sprain.
The Houston Astros expect slugger Yordan Alvarez to miss the rest of the regular season with his severe left ankle sprain, but are hopeful that he can return for the postseason.
Alvarez is just the latest star on a contender to suffer a key injury this month.— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) September 16, 2025
But Nightengale also reports that the Astros are holding out hope he can return for the postseason if the Astros can hold on without him and earn a spot. It’s an uphill battle, but there’s at least some hope for Alvarez this season.
In a season riddled with injuries, the Astros can’t seem to catch a break. They were already fighting a lot of injuries to make the postseason. And now, they’ll have to make a run without Alvarez, as the slugger recovers from a brutal ankle sprain.
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