Houston: A City of Dreams
So here we are. It's been awhile for Houston. The first thing to understand about Houston is that we are not used to being in this position. Houston has had its moments of glory, but the professional teams in Houston have been known to choke at the worst possible times. The Houston Rockets have brought home championships titles from 1994 and 1995, but besides that, Houston has struggled to get championship wins in sports let alone even go to the championships. The Houston Astros are a good franchise, but the one thing they don't have is the titles to prove it. Legends like Nolan Ryan, Jeff Bagwell, Billy Wagner, Craig Biggio and Lance Berkman have led the Astros through some amazing times, but Houston has only been to the World Series once which resulted in a sweep. But maybe there is hope for this year. There is a lot to be said for this team and what they have on their belt. Many already recognize the 2017 Houston Astros as one of the best teams to ever exist in the franchise. The team was able to be #1 in most of the offensive stats such as hits, runs, and RBIs. The fielding had been very consistent during the season with great plays made by players such as Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, George Springer and Alex Bregman. The pitching has also greatly improved this season with Dallas Keuchel, Justin Verlander, Lance McCullers and Charlie Morton as starters most of the time. Clearly, this is something that has been in the making for a long time. We must turn back the clocks and look at a much weaker Houston team so we can understand how this powerhouse came to be.
2013-2014: A Time of Rebuilding
In 2013 the Astros were a complete wreck. The most wins a pitcher had on the team was seven, with the pitcher Jordan Lyles. Most of the starting pitchers had an ERA of 5.00 or worse. This was no surprise though as the Astros were predicted to be one of the worst teams in the MLB that season. Still, it was a complete embarrassment that the Astros couldn’t put something together. They finished the season with 15 straight losses and had an overall record of 51-111, which put them last in the AL West. Jose Altuve and Dallas Keuchel were on the team at the time, but neither player had begun to shine. They were both still building and trying to make a name for themselves. But in 2014, the Astros began to show signs of hope. Jose Altuve had been with the Astros since 2011 playing like an average baseball player, but in 2014 something came alive. Altuve began hitting out of his mind as it seemed every game he was able to find a way to put the bat on the ball. He had 225 hits with a .341 batting average. At the same time, the Astros had started getting out of the hole they had been digging for so long. The Astros had acquired George Springer that year, who also compiled 20 home runs in that season. As for pitching, Dallas Keuchel had a phenomenal year of pitching going 12-9 and having a 2.93 ERA while Collin McHugh went 11-9 with a 2.73 ERA. This was a massive improvement for the Astros, but there was still a lot of work that had to be done. The pitching overall was still not good enough as the bullpen still needed a lot of improvement. Old players would have to leave as new ones would come in. The Astros finished 70-92 in the 2014 season putting them 4th in the AL West just above the Texas Rangers who had gone 67-95 that season. This was a major step for the team, but the Astros were just getting started.
2015-2016: Something is Brewing in Houston
Bo Porter, the manager of the Houston Astros from 2013-2014, was fired in the 2014 season, so the Astros needed a new manager who could take on the role of helping build the super team that was to come. Enter A.J. Hinch, a former baseball player for the MLB. Hinch had a lot of experience in the MLB being a player and holding many other jobs for teams in his post-career. The Astros also acquired many new players to fill in important spots. Luis Valbuena took the Third Base position, Carlos Correa took the Short Stop position and Evan Gattis became the new Designated Hitter. Jose Altuve was still at Second Base and there was a good rotation of outfielders involving Colby Rasmus, George Springer, and Preston Tucker. Things were starting to come together for the Astros as Dallas Keuchel had a phenomenal year of pitching. Keuchel went 20-8 with 2.48 ERA. He was able to go 15-0 at home which became an MLB record. He would become a golden glove winner that season and also come in 5th with the AL MVP voting polls. The Astros had also picked up Mike Fiers to add to the pitching rotation. The team would compile 250 home runs in the 2015 season thanks to Carlos Correa’s 22 and Evan Gattis’s 27 home runs. Houston would finish 86-76 in the season putting them 2nd in the AL West right under the Texas Rangers just by a few games. They would clinch a wild-card spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2005 and face the New York Yankees. They would ultimately cruise past the Yankees winning 3-0, but would later lose to the Kansas City Royals in the next round. While it was a tough loss, it was still the first time the Astros had been in the playoffs since the World Series in 2005. Things were starting to finally turn around and the future was beginning to look very bright for the Astros. In 2016 though, things began to slow down for Houston. Some players were not as hot as they were once before. The Texas Rangers became a big problem for the Astros and caused them to have a very damaging record in the league. Carlos Gómez became a thorn in the Astros side causing many problems by having most of his at-bats result in strikeouts. Anything that could’ve gone wrong went wrong in 2016 as the Astros finished 84-78 putting them 3rd in the AL West. But not all hope was lost. Jose Altuve was still hitting the ball with a .338 batting average (his best since 2014) and would also gather together 24 home runs, which was the most he ever had in a season. Evan Gattis also brought together 32 home runs while George Springer had 29. The fielding was also looking great as Carlos Correa was becoming one of the best short stop’s in the league. Certain pieces in the Astros offense were perfect and clearly there was a team that was nearly ready to be made for the World Series, but unfortunately sacrifices would have to be made. There were players that would be cut that fans would not want to see leave, but to get the Commissioner’s Trophy it would have to be done.
2017: The Team is Ready
The Houston Astros acquired Carlos Beltrá n and Norichika Aoki in the offseason to help add some talent and experience to the team. They would then part ways with Luis Valbuena and have Alex Bregman step up to the third base position as his bats were much better and he was ultimately the cheaper option. Another tough sacrifice was saying goodbye to a fan favorite Colby Rasmus aka Colby Jack, who played a great outfielder but unfortunately had his bats go cold near the end of the 2016 season. The Astros would bring in Josh Reddick from the Los Angeles Dodgers to fill in the spot. Soon enough the outfield was perfect with a great rotation. George Springer and Josh Reddick were phenomenal outfielders while Jake Marisnick would occasionally come in the rotation and Aoki would handle the left usually. Brian McCann would also be acquired to fill in the Catcher spot. The Bullpen had been developed and was much better before, but the main problem lied in the starters. McHugh was injured and out for a big portion of the season, so Keuchel would have to step up while McCullers and Fiers were also in the rotation. They did exactly that. Dallas would go 14-5 with a 2.90 ERA while McCullers went 7-4 with a 4.25 ERA. Brad Peacock and Charlie Morton also became unexpected stars in the process as certain pitchers became injured throughout the season. Peacock would go 13-2 with 3.00 ERA while Morton would finish 14-7 with a 3.62 ERA. McHugh came back halfway through the season and had his fair share of wins as well. The biggest addition to the team though was veteran Justin Verlander who was a great starter that the Astros were well in need of, but fans would not see his importance until at a major point later in the year. While the pitching was much better than before, something bigger had come alive in Houston. The bats. What the Astros had been trying to do for so long had finally worked. First the whole field looked great. There was a fair amount of all-stars on the field who could make the right plays at the right time. What made it very unique though was that most of these players had begun hitting the ball much more than usual. The top of the order was usually George Springer, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa. The trio became one of the deadliest group of bats in the league. Altuve had a batting average of .346 and Carlos had an average of .315, but it didn’t stop there. The Astros 7-8-9 part of the order averaged a phenomenal amount of hits and runs and made some of the teams 1-2-3 part of the order look horrific. The Astros led in nearly everything that involved offense. The Astros led in Hits (1581), Runs (896), RBIs (854), Batting Average (.282), Slugging Percentage (.478) and OPS (.823). The numbers were phenomenal and the Astros showed that they were clearly the best team in the MLB. After the All-Star Break, the Astros had some streaks where they went cold and would not finish with the best record in the MLB, but the damage had been done. The Astros finished with 101-61 record and was 1st in the AL West and 2nd in the AL overall. Now the Astros would return to the playoffs to redeem themselves and win the trophy that the city has never had before.
2017 MLB Playoffs: Time to Discover Who We Are
The Astros then had to play the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS which was no problem, but in the ALCS the bats went cold and so did the Astros. Everything that could’ve gone wrong for the Astros did go wrong. Many mistakes were made, but most of all the powerful offense that existed during the season had disappeared. Players like Josh Reddick had over 20 at-bats and had not one hit. It was very frustrating the first five games. Games 1 and 2 went to the Astros, with Justin Verlander pitching a full game in Game 2 which was just phenomenal to watch. Games 3,4 and 5 were a different story though. Aaron Judge and the Yankees destroyed the Astros all three games in New York not allowing the Astros to have any hope whatsoever. Game 3 the Yankees won easily 8-1. Game 4 the Astros had put up 4 runs, but the Yankees put up 6 runs afterwards to beat them 6-4. Game 5 was the ugliest as the Yankees cruised past the Astros 5-0. The Yankees now led the series 3-2 and it seemed that whatever mojo the Astros had before was now gone. But the story was not over. The Astros had to go back to Houston to finish the story and come back and win the final two games to win the series. Game 6 was a shocker to the Yankees. Verlander showed why he was great and came out and pitched 7 shutout innings against New York, while Altuve, Bregman, McCann and Gattis had very crucial hits in the game. The Astros would win 7-1 to force a game 7. In Game 7 a lot of big things happened. First Charlie Morton and Lance McCullers pitched phenomenal games. Morton pitched 5 innings with 5 strikeouts and McCullers pitched 4 innings with 6 strikeouts. The biggest thing of all though was that Aaron Judge went 0-4 not getting one hit. The Astros did things that were just phenomenal that night and they truly looked like the Astros from the regular season. Houston would win Game 7 4-0 to win the ALCS and advance to the World Series to face the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Return: Earn History
Now Houston returns to the World Series for the second time and this time it is no fluke. This team is clearly spectacular at what they do and now they must face a phenomenal pitching team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. It’s going to be a very interesting series, but both teams know what’s at stake. They might not have the same team next year and who knows when they’ll be back again. So the time is now when the Astros must lay it all out and give it their all to bring home the trophy. They have already done a lot for this city by getting to the World Series, but the last thing we ask is that the Astros bring home the title that this city has never have. We want to experience that feeling when you know you’re the best team in the MLB. We want to know what the Yankees, Red Sox, Royals and Rangers have felt when they won a title. This city needs it after everything it has been through this year. This team has brought Houston together and has redefined what family is all about. Finish the job Astros. Show us why you are in the World Series. Let’s Earn History…
