Houston Astros: 2017 World Series Champions!!!

40 years.


That's how long I've been a fan of the Houston Astros.  I was five when my infatuation with the team started.

Back then it was all about Enos Cabell, Jose Cruz, J.R. Richard and Terry Puhl.  Then Nolan Ryan came on board and it all clicked. Through the years of Dickie Thon, Bob Knepper, Phil Garner, Kevin Bass, Bill Doran, Kevin Bass, Mike Scott and Denny Walling followed by Glen Davis, Jim Deshais, frumpy old Charlier Kerfeld and the magical 1986 team with the no-hitter.

After that some leaner years, with great (to me) players though. Billy Hatcher and Gerald Young, some young buck named Ken Caminiti, Buddy Bell, Danny Darwin and a young catcher named Craig Biggio. The dawn of the 90's brought us Larry Anderson, one of the pivotal players in franchise history and Casey Candele, the original 'everyman's' player.

But the trade of Larry Anderson (one of the games all-time great characters and funny-men) brought the Astros one Jeff Bagwell and we were off. Pete Harnish and Tony Eusebio joined the fold, each to play key roles in the development of the team. Daryl Kyle and Shane Reynolds joined the pitching staff along with Doug Drabek.  Eric Anthony joined the team and hit one of the longest home runs I've ever personally seen.

The mid-90's brought terrible uniforms, and Steve Finley and Luis Gonzales. Plus, a labor strike. (And Bagwell's only MVP.) Those were fun times. Derek Bell made his appearances as did Billy Wagner (Enter Sandman), The bulldog Mike Hampton and the debut of Bobby Abreu.

The late 90's brought us Sean Berry, Tim Bogar, Richard Hidalgo and the late, great Jose Lima.  And then the Grand Randy Johnson experiment.  Which was brilliant but fell just short.  Into the late 90's and early 2000's Lance Berkman, the Big Puma, started his rise to local hero fame. Carl Everette and Bill Spires were also mainstays of those teams. Teams that consistently finished either 2nd or 1st in the NL Central, but could never knock down the World Series door.

The 2000's ushered in the Ballpark at Union Station, also known as Enron Field. It also saw Moises Alou added to the roster, who may, or may not, have peed on his hands for grip, and flame-throwing, but out of control, Scott Elarton, and a cup-of-coffee by Dwight Gooden, who threw the first pitch ever at Enron in an exhibition game. I missed that first pitch, and the entire first inning, because the Metro bus driver from our park and ride got lost.

These early 2000's teams were good. Roy Oswalt was the ace and the offenses were stout. Brad Ausmus became the catcher and then-local sports columnist Richard Justice fell in love with him. Morgan Ensberg would be clutch from time to time and light-hitting Adam Everett was never the star they wanted him to be.

In 2003 the Astros spent a lot of money, for them, to sign Jeff Kent. He solidified the hot-corner and provided depth behind the "Killer B's" of Biggio, Bagwell and Berkman. In 2004 it all clicked. The Astros traded for Carlos Beltran before the trade deadline and he went on to have one of the best post-seasons of any player, ever. Oh yeah, they also signed Roger Clemons and Andy Pettitte to deals, this was a good team. There was trouble brewing however when closer Brad Lidge gave up a homerun in the NLCS to Albert Pujols that is still flying somewhere today.

But they ran into a juggernaut that year in the form of the Chicago White Sox, who swept them in four.  At that time we didn't care however, because we knew that big things were ahead for this team. How wrong we were.

The next year saw the loss of Billy Wagner, the signing of Chad Qualls and Wandy Rodriguez, and the beginning of a slide. 2006 saw the departure of Jeff Bagwell and Andy Pettitte, and the deepening of the slide.  By 2008 this was Lance Berkman's team. Carlos Lee was the 2nd star, but the Clemens and Biggio's and Bagwell's were gone. Hunter Pence showed promise, and Miguel Tejada had an all-star year, but the team finished 3rd. In 2009 the Astros signed Pudge Rodriguez, and finished fifth, things were coming off the rails, yet team owner Drayton McLane refused to acknowledge the team needed a rebuild. The City had fallen out of love with the team it once adored. 2009 was awful, the team finished 4th in the division and only Michael Bourn made the All-Star game, as the "has to be one" Astro representative.

After 2011 the team was sold. Jim Crane came in, inheriting a team that had lost 106 games and finished last in the NL Central.  2012 was last time the Astros would play in that division, and they finished dead last again, with 107 losses. One bright note, Jose Altuve was the team's All-Star game representative.

2013 saw the beginning of the rebuild. Dallas Keuchel was a rookie, Altuve was in a Sophomore slump but Jason Castro showed some promise.  The team lost 111 games. In 2014 though there was improvement. The Astros only lost 92 games, George Springer made his rookie debut, Altuve returned to All-Star form and Marwin Gonzales started playing better. The team had hope leading up to 2015.

As amazing as this sounds, the 2015 team led the Major Leagues in strike-outs, by a lot, and STILL made the wildcard game.  The team as we now know it was starting to come together as Carlos Correa, Brad Peacock, Luke Gregerson and Evan Gattis all joined the roster. The team made the playoffs, beat the Yankees in an exciting Wild Card game only to lose to the eventual Champion Kansas City Royals in heart breaking fashion. (The Astros blew a 3-1 lead before the Golden State Warriors did).  2016 was a year lost to injury and strikeouts, as the team decided it needed to go back to the drawing board to build a winner.

Enter 2017. And what just happened.

This team, this wonderful, outstanding, beautiful team that I've been following for my entire life just did what I thought was unthinkable.  All of the stars came together, the team signed Justin freaking Verlander, Alex Bregman became a star, Yuli Gurriel became a 33 year-old rookie, and Charlie Morton delivered 3 plus innings of some of the most clutch pitching I've ever seen.

It was a beautiful night, a marvelous night, a night that I never thought had any chance of happening.

But it did.

And right now I'm still not even sure it's really, really real.

Houston Astros: 2017 World Series Champions.


Thank you for giving this one Houston sports fan the sports moment of a lifetime.