The Houston Astros are one of the youngest franchises in the MLB, having been born under the name Houston Colt 45s. in 1962.
It was in 1965 when they adopted their current name, due to the construction of a new stadium that at the time was called the “Eighth Wonder of the World”, the Astrodome.
The Astros began playing for the National League, but in 2013 they made the switch to the American League.
They are the only team in history to win an American League pennant, a National League pennant and a World Series.
The new MLB dynasty
After sweeping the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, the Astros continue to meet expectations after finishing the season with the best record in the American League and the second best in the Major Leagues, 106-56.
They’ll now play in their fourth World Series, and second in a row.
The Astros are arguably the last dynasty in the Major Leagues because of these accomplishments, but there’s no shortage of controversy when it comes to their success.
The Astros shenanigans
In 2017 the Astros reached their second World Series and defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven dramatic games, but three years later it was revealed they cheated.
Following an investigation, Major League Baseball found that the Astros had been stealing signals from opposing teams with the use of technology.
Then-general manager Jeff Lunhow and then-manager A.J. Hinch were suspended for a year, the team was fined $5 million and were stripped of its two top picks in the 2020 and 2021 drafts.
“I find that the conduct of the Astros, and its senior baseball operations executives, merits significant discipline,” said MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.
“I base this finding on the fact that the Club’s senior baseball operations executives were given express notice in September 2017 that I would hold them accountable for violations of our policies covering sign stealing, and those individuals took no action to ensure that the Club’s players and staff complied with those policies during the 2017 Postseason and the 2018 regular season.”
The investigation stemmed from 2016, when several teams had reported signal theft in playoff games, including the New York Yankees.
Despite the team’s cheating being confirmed, MLB decided against stripping them of their World Series title, the franchise’s only one so far.
The resurgence
The Astros became the most hated team in the Majors because of this, but they kept their core of players, and under manager Dusty Baker, a World Series winner with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981 as a player, the Astros have emerged as a perennial contender.
Houston has six consecutive American League Championship Series appearances, and this year’s victory means they’re in their fourth World Series in the last six seasons.
Astros World Series
The team reached its first Fall Classic in 2005 while playing in the National League, but lost to the Chicago White Sox. They didn’t return to the World Series until the aforementioned 2017 series.
After winning that year, the Astros lost in the 2019 Fall Classic to the Washington Nationals, and last year fell in six games to the Atlanta Braves.
This year, against the Philadelphia Phillies, Houston will looking to win its second Major League title.