CHICAGO — They can acquire an outfielder, address their depth-starved starting rotation and add a right-handed leverage reliever, but the Houston Astros are going nowhere if Hunter Brown is anything less than an ace.

For most of the past month, Brown did not resemble one. It is a deficiency no trade deadline acquisition can conceal, compounding the urgency for Brown to find his best self. He awoke on Saturday with a 6.08 ERA across a five-start stretch fraught with subpar command and fleeting feel for his fastball.

“I just hold myself to a standard to be the best version of myself I can be for this team,” Brown said. “And I thought, quite frankly, I was underperforming that. It wasn’t due to the lack of preparation or mentality or anything like that, it was simply not executing at the level that I can.”

On a cloudy evening on the South Side of Chicago, Brown became the bully this ballclub had not seen since his mid-April shoulder strain, spurring hope he has reprised his role as this rotation’s bedrock. Anything less lowers the ceiling of a team already navigating too many concerns to count — and carrying the third-highest ERA of any starting rotation in the sport.

It is a burden Brown has proven capable of bearing. He finished third in Cy Young voting last season while carrying an injury-ravaged starting rotation within one game of a playoff spot.

Missing more than two months of this season will prevent Brown from being back in awards consideration, but the value he can provide to this team is identical — if not higher — than last year.

“The expectations are just so high because he is Hunter Brown and he is our Cy Young pitcher,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said. “We have so (many) expectations for him and he showed it today.”

Brown battered the Chicago White Sox across seven scoreless innings, showing efficiency and strike-throwing that did not exist during his downturn. He retired the final 12 White Sox hitters he saw, appearing stronger in the seventh inning than he was in the first. Manager Joe Espada considered sending Brown back out for the eighth inning, but settled for seven of the best innings any of his starters have thrown all season.

“That’s Hunter Brown,” Espada said after the 4-1 victory. “He looked pissed, too. I thought he came out there and he was pissed. He was tired of the performances.”

Brown took a more tactful tone, but did not downplay the importance of dominating when he did. His performance helped Houston pass the Seattle Mariners for sole possession of second place in the American League West, a division the Astros will not win if Brown is a pedestrian pitcher.

“The goal is to play in October. We can taste that we’re close and that’s the goal — to creep back up,” Brown said. “Whether it’s winning our division or getting a wild-card spot, that’s always our goal.”

FanGraphs now gives the Astros a 33 percent chance to reach the postseason, odds that have continued to climb as Houston has reeled off five consecutive wins. Other issues are obvious, but having Brown at his peak form is the sort of separator this team must savor in a weak American League.

Seeing Brown at his best on Saturday only furthers optimism. He fell into just three three-ball counts and, for the first time this season, did not walk a batter. Six days earlier, Brown surrendered a career-worst six free passes against the Baltimore Orioles.

“I feel like my stuff has increasingly got better over the last couple weeks. Even Baltimore, I felt good about my curveball and the way my fastball was working,” Brown said. “I knew I was trending in the right direction. I knew I wasn’t too far away.”

Before straining his shoulder, Brown had never been injured in his professional baseball career. Rehabbing and returning after an in-season shutdown is uncharted territory for the 27-year-old. Perhaps it is an explanation for Brown’s uneven season, though neither he nor Espada want to use it as an excuse. It is nonetheless noteworthy.

“I know mechanically he’s been working on a few things, but you just have to give him some time,” Espada said. “He knows his craft very well. But just give him some time. He’ll figure it out. He knows. He sees the calendar, knows where we’re at. He knows that he’ll show up.”

Within the game’s first six hitters, Brown threw his two hardest pitches of the season: a 98.4 mph four-seam fastball to strike out Munetaka Murakami and a tailing, two-strike 98.6 mph sinker that Andrew Benintendi swung through in the second.

Seven of Brown’s fastballs arrived at 98 mph or harder. Across his previous eight starts, Brown had only thrown seven such pitches. Four of them came prior to his shoulder strain. Brown’s four-seam fastball sat 96.9 mph — a mile per hour harder than his season average — and concluded four of his seven strikeouts.

An inability to harness the pitch has plagued Brown since returning from injury. Mechanical tweaks this week helped him to get more on top of his four-seam fastball and drive it through the strike zone. Too often, Brown said, his misfires were high in the strike zone: a sign of imprecise timing in his delivery. Getting synced up solved the issue.

“If I’m doing that,” Brown said, “all my other pitches are better.”

Three of Brown’s pitches — his sinker, four-seamer and curveball — generated at least five swings and misses from Chicago’s lineup on Saturday. The White Sox whiffed 16 times on the first 31 swings Brown induced and finished the game with 20. Brown became just the fourth Astros starter in 106 games to generate at least 20 whiffs.

Brown needed 90 pitches to procure his 21 outs. He faced just two batters over the minimum and did not allow either baserunner to pass first base. Chicago chased outside the strike zone at a 36 percent clip against Brown, who threw 67 percent of his pitches for strikes.

Across Brown’s past five starts, he had just a 52 percent strike rate, among the myriad reasons for his misfortune. Perhaps this magnificent Saturday represented a first step toward something more normal: an ace at his apex when the Astros can afford nothing else.

“He knows,” Espada said. “It’s August. It’s go time. I think we, as a club, we need that.”

When a Premier League and Champions League winner becomes available in the market, and for no transfer fee, why wouldn’t Europe’s top clubs be on high alert?

John Stones is a free agent after 10 seasons with Manchester City, his departure bringing an end to a glittering spell where he lifted 20 major trophies at the club. His mix of experience, leadership and winning mentality is unparalleled. While some potential suitors might have concerns over the 94-cap England international’s long-term fitness, not all teams are deterred by Stones’ injury history.

As The Athletic recently reported, Arsenal are considering bringing the 32-year-old in, while Chelsea have him on a list of centre-backs they are considering.

It might be a stretch to suggest that any club would be looking to recruit Stones to be an immediate regular starter, but the fundamental attributes that he offers are unquestionably coveted — particularly among those teams who are likely to dominate possession in matches.

This is a defender who has just helped England to a World Cup semi-final this summer, providing much-needed composure to Thomas Tuchel’s back line, both on and off the ball.

“I think he is a world-class player; he is an amazing character and a proven winner,” Tuchel said after naming Stones in his World Cup squad. “He knows how to adapt to a winning culture, and adapt tactically on the field. He is still on the highest level when I see him play and move.

“We analysed a lot of his training data, because there is not a lot of proof (in terms of matches played) in the last half of the season, unfortunately, but the good news is that he was available. The bad news is that he was not selected (by City) as much as we hoped for.”

Stones later echoed his manager’s words on his availability, but reservations over his fitness are valid.

He has barely scraped 1,000 league minutes together since the beginning of the 2024-25 season, with his last meaningful impact coming in 2022-23 — where his ball-playing abilities were amplified in a midfield role during City’s treble-winning season.

Casting those doubts aside for this exercise, there are few players in European football with Stones’ ability as a tempo-dictating central defender.

Possession is sacred to his long-time City manager Pep Guardiola, and Stones can be seen as the poster boy for the Spaniard’s style of play — he has a peerless ability to look after the ball. Since 2018-19, no Premier League centre-back (with 900-plus minutes of game time) has logged a higher passing accuracy than Stones’ 94 per cent.

His primary remit has always been to keep things simple, play the ball short, and provide the foundation for his team’s build-up. Of the 232 centre-backs included in the sample mentioned above, only 10 averaged a lower share of passes played long (passes of 35-plus yards) than Stones’ six per cent — and five of those were fellow City players.

The efficacy of Stones’ skill set was brought into sharper focus during that treble-winning season in 2022-23.

As Guardiola sought out a tactical tweak in the spring months of City’s historical campaigns in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup, Stones would regularly step into midfield from right centre-back or right-back to support their ball progression.

Here for example, in the Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich, you can see Stones operating as a central defender in the early stages of build-up…

… but he would regularly stride forward to provide an extra man in midfield that would allow City to operate with a 3-2-5 shape few sides had an answer to.

It shows the degree of tactical intelligence that was required of Stones and was highly regarded by Guardiola, knowing when to step into midfield and time his movement according to the phase of play.

It was during that season’s Champions League final that his hybrid role shone on the biggest stage, as he completed all six of his dribbles on the night against Inter. Famously, the last player to log more on European club football’s biggest stage was Lionel Messi in Barcelona’s 2015 defeat of Juventus.

That confidence to step forward has not been lost, and it was on show this summer.

Against Norway in the quarter-finals, Stones briefly swapped positions with right-back Ezri Konsa to pull into a wider position — receiving the ball in the right channel before underlapping Bukayo Saka and dragging opposition players with him.

It is a simple action, but not one that you would associate with your typical centre-back.

That versatility to occupy different spaces, perform different roles, and play in different positions would be highly regarded by whichever employer lands his signature this summer.

Such is the quality of his attributes in possession that Stones’ defending feels like an adjunct to his core on-ball attributes.

Stylistically, he has rarely been one to go looking for trouble when defending his goal, with 2.5 “true” tackles — denoting tackles plus fouls committed plus challenges lost — per 1,000 opponent touches being among the bottom seven per cent of Premier League centre-backs since 2018-19.

Through wise positioning and sharp defensive awareness, he prefers to wait before engaging — often finding himself in the right place at the right time by using every ounce of his experience.

Facing Erling Haaland in that last-eight clash with Norway, Stones is ultimately left one-v-one with his now former team-mate as the ball is at the feet of Alexander Sorloth.

Haaland has the option to run either side of him to get in behind England’s back line (red arrows), but Stones does not overcommit defensively — using quick footwork to adjust his positioning as he retreats, tracking Haaland’s run before reading the (albeit poor) pass to intercept and clear the potential danger.

Stones can command a penalty area when his side do sit deep, but this ability to defend space when further up the field is more likely to be desired by a possession-dominant team playing with a higher defensive line.

That experience garnered from City’s playing style will give potential suitors confidence that he can replicate those attributes elsewhere.

That is not to underestimate Stones’ ability in the agricultural side of the game, as he offers a strong aerial presence in both boxes. No City player has scored more than his 10 set-piece goals since the start of 2018-19, and a 68 per cent aerial win rate in those eight seasons puts him in the top 10 per cent of centre-backs across the Premier League.

Physicality is an important aspect in winning such duels, but Stones’ timing is often impeccable in the crucial moments.

When England were forced back in their World Cup semi-final against Argentina, his back-foot defending kept Messi and company at arm’s length for long periods — with his headed clearance against Nicolas Tagliafico averting danger in the second half.

As shown below, Stones’ starting position allows Tagliafico to get goalside as the cross is delivered to the back post by Messi, but his recovery to drop back into his own six-yard box and win the second contact was essential in preventing Argentina from having an effort on goal.

Stones’ leadership and experience are guaranteed traits for any prospective club looking to secure his signature.

More importantly, they would be getting one of the most tactically intelligent centre-backs the European game has seen in the past decade.

Concerns over his fitness record might still linger for some, but his play at the World Cup served as a reminder that Stones does still have plenty left in the tank when it comes to operating at the highest level.

Need help with today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle? You’ve come to the right place.

Welcome to Connections: Sports Edition Coach — a spot to gather clues and discuss (and share) scores.

A quick public service announcement before we continue: The bottom of this article includes the answers — and hints — for the four categories. So if you want to solve the board hint-free, we recommend you play before continuing.

You can access today’s game here. And when you’re done, try out our limited-edition Connections: Soccer Edition — special for this summer’s World Cup — for an extra challenge.

Today’s difficulty

Game No. 671’s difficulty: 4.5 out of 5

Connections: Sports Edition hints for July 26, 2026

Scroll below for one answer in each of the four categories.

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Yellow: CREW

Green: SPOON

Blue: SOCKS

Purple: STOCKINGS

Connections: Sports Edition answers for July 26, 2026

Scroll below for the full answers to each of the four categories.

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Yellow

Ohio teams: BROWNS, BUCKEYES, CAVALIERS, CREW

Green

Fishing gear: HOOK, SINKER, SPOON, TACKLE BOX

Blue

Found in MLB team logos: BASEBALL GLOVE, BRIDGE, CROWN, SOCKS

Purple

Ends in an NHL team: BLUE DEVILS, BOILERS, PF FLYERS, STOCKINGS

What is Connections: Sports Edition?

Connections: Sports Edition is The Athletic’s first-ever game, a daily puzzle designed for players to find connections between 16 words on the game board.

The game’s objective is to group words or objects into four groups of four based on commonalities within each group as quickly as possible. Find the groups without making four mistakes. Each puzzle has exactly one solution, so watch out for words or items that seem to belong to multiple categories!

Category examples:
Sports ____ : Fan, Car, Bar, Radio
U.S. Summer Olympians: Biles, Phelps, Ledecky, Lyles

Each category group is assigned a color, revealed as you solve, ranging from straightforward (yellow) to medium (green) to challenging (blue) to tricky (purple).

Who creates the puzzles for Connections: Sports Edition?

That’s me! My name is Mark Cooper, and I create Connections: Sports Edition and work as a managing editor for college sports here at The Athletic. I was previously The Athletic’s managing editor for breaking news.

The next puzzle will be available at midnight in your time zone. Thanks for playing — and share your scores in the comments!