Astros’ off-season: Rating the Golden Decade

This is not meant to be a swan song-type post, but there certainly can be an argument that the Championship window that was opened up and propped wide in the last 10 seasons may be closing or certainly is narrower today.

Currently, as we wait for more action in a key off-season for the Astros, we will go back through this Golden Decade of Astros’ baseball and will rank those ten seasons. You will note that postseason success trumps (yeah, I meant to use that word) regular season records often along the way.

10)  2016 – 84-78 and missed the playoffs – This was not an awful season, especially considering they had to bounce back from a 7-17 start. But there were a lot of hopes for this team to build further on the playoff success of 2015, even though that 2015 season was a huge leap over the four dark seasons before it.

2016 Awards

• Gold Glove – Dallas Keuchel
• Batting Champ – Jose Altuve
• All Stars – Jose Altuve / Will Harris

9) 2024 – 88-73 Lost in Wild Card – There could be arguments to bump this up a bit, but there can be no argument about this team being the only one to make the playoffs and not get farther than the Wild Card round.

2024 Awards

• Gold Glove – Alex Bregman
• All Stars – Altuve / Kyle Tucker / Yordan Alvarez

8) 2020 – 29-31 Lost in ALCS – OK, I’m ignoring the fact that this team totally devastated by injuries (Justin Verlander, Yordan Alvarez, Brad Peacock, Chris Devenski, Roberto Osuna) and the effects of the scandal would not have been in the playoffs in any season but this COVID shortened one. But they made it into and through the playoffs and  came within one rally of coming back from a 3-0 hole in the ALCS against the Rays.

2020 Awards – None

7) 2015 – 86-76 lost in ALDS – This was the lightning bolt out of nowhere. This team had suffered through three 100-loss seasons and a slightly better 72-90 in 2014. They then put together a season where they led the division most of the way and slid into a one-game Wild Card win over the hated Yankees. They then had the ultimate champions, the KC Royals, on the ropes in the ALDS, before coughing up a four-run lead in the eighth inning of Game 4.

Awards

• Cy Young – Dallas Keuchel
• Rookie of the Year – Carlos Correa
• Gold Glove – Keuchel / Altuve
• All Stars – Keuchel / Altuve

6) 2023 – 90-72 Lost in ALCS – Some folks might say this team should be ranked down where the 2024 team is placed. As far as talent and overcoming pitching injuries the teams were very similar. But this team played much better in the playoffs and came within one home win in the ALCS of their third World Championship. They would not have lost to the D’Backs.

Awards

• Gold Glove – Mauricio Dubon
• All Stars – Framber Valdez / Tucker / Alvarez

5) 2018 – 103-59 Lost in ALCS – When we talk about “IT” – should the Astros complain that former Astro bench coach Alex Cora and his Boston Red Sox team stole this one through cheating. Nah. But this was a very talented team that ran into a buzz saw and some buzzard’s luck in the ALCS. And Joe West….

Awards

• Gold Glove – Keuchel
• All Stars – Altuve / Bregman / Springer / Gerrit Cole / Charlie Morton / Justin Verlander

4) 2021 – 95-67 Lost in WS – Of the four Astro World Series teams in this era, this was the relatively “worst” team as the only one that did not have a 100-win season. The Astros took care of the White Sox in the ALDS and the Red Sox in the ALCS.  In the World Series the Braves behind some clutch home runs and a bullpen the Astros could not solve won it in 6 games.

Awards

• Batting Champ – Yuli Gurriel
• Gold Glove – Gurriel / Correa
• All Stars – Altuve / Correa / Michael Brantley / Ryan Pressly

3) 2019 – 107-55 Lost in WS – This team set the record for the best Astros’ regular season record and, without a doubt, was the best Astros team to not win it all. They took out the Rays in the ALDS in five games and Jose Altuve shot a walk-off through the hearts (if they had any) of the Yanks in Game 6 of the ALCS. But in a pre-echo of the 2023 ALCS, the road team won every game in a 7-game heartbreaker, and the Nationals took home the crown.  

Awards

• Cy Young – Justin Verlander
• Rookie of the Year – Yordan Alvarez
• All Stars – Bregman / Brantley/ Springer / Cole / Pressly

2) 2017 – 101-61 Won the WS – I always thought that nothing would surpass this season as the highlight of my almost 60 seasons of rooting for the Astros. But when “It” happened, it took away a part of my love for what had been a magical season topped by a wonderful, crazy World Series run against the Dodgers. The most hurtful part of this was that this was a tremendous team that did not need the shenanigans to win. In fact, looking at the way they hit better on the road than at home, it is hard to see what advantage they found in the cheating.

Awards

• MVP – Jose Altuve
• Batting Champ – Altuve
• All Stars – Altuve / Correa / Springer / Chris Devenski / Keuchel / Lance McCullers Jr.

1) 2022 – 106-56 Won the WS – This team took the burden of the scandal off the backs of the fans and the team. Frankly, the Astros had shown in both 2020 and 2021 that they were a contender without any cheating, but this is the one that proved it (to everyone but certain Dodgers and Yanks). They swept the Mariners in an ALDS series rescued by the first game walk off by Yordan Alvarez and then buried the Yankees in a 4-0 ALCS before taking the Phils out in a six-game WS.

Awards

• Cy Young – Justin Verlander
• Gold Glove – Jeremy Pena / Kyle Tucker
• All Stars – Altuve / Tucker / Alvarez / Framber Valdez / Verlander

So, how would you rate the last 10 seasons and why?