Houston Chronicle - Astros Strong: Houstons Historic 2017 Championship Season

Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle

Contents

Introduction by Steve Schaeffer

Houston Chronicle Baseball Editor

Perhaps it was foreshadowed on January 18, when Jeff Bagwell was named an electee to the National Baseball Hall of Fame: 2017 would be the year of the Astros.

Bagwell was elected on his seventh try (or six too many in the eyes of Astros fans), but Houston had grown accustomed to waiting where its baseball team was concerned.

Born as the Colt .45s in 1962, the franchise that in 1965 became the Astros finished 2016 without a championship in 55 years of play. The 2005 team was the only one to have won a pennant but was swept in the World Series by the Chicago White Sox.

The story of the 2017 team really begins in late 2011, when Jim Crane purchased the franchise and hired Jeff Luhnow as its general manager. Jose Altuve had completed his rookie season, and George Springer had been selected in the first round of that years draft. The silver lining in a 106-loss campaign was that Luhnow would get the first draft pick in 2012, which he used on 17-year-old shortstop Carlos Correa.

Rebuilding yielded two more seasons of triple-digit losses (107 in 2012 and 111 in 2013, their first year as an American League entity), but by the time A.J. Hinch arrived as manager in 2015, the Astros were ready to emerge as a contender. With Correa taking Rookie of the Year honors and Dallas Keuchel registering a Cy Young Award campaign, the Astros won the AL wild card and made the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. They were six outs from advancing to the AL Championship Series before the Kansas City Royals rallied from a four-run deficit in Game 4 and went on to win the AL Division Series in five games.

Unable to overcome a slow start to the 2016 season, the Astros didnt make the playoffs. But in 2017, it all clicked.

Joining Altuve, Springer and Correa in their Core Four was 2016 call-up Alex Bregman, drafted by Luhnow with the second overall selection of 2015. Yuli Gurriel, a star in Cuba, had been procured in 2016. And perhaps as importantly, Luhnow had added a veteran presence to the clubhouse via an offseason trade for Brian McCann and the free-agent signings of Josh Reddick and Carlos Beltran.

A slow start would not be an issue in 2017. The Astros went 16-9 in April, 22-7 in May and 16-11 in June and were 60-29 at the All-Star break, good for a 16.5-game lead atop the AL West. Six Astros Altuve, Correa, Springer, Keuchel, Lance McCullers Jr. and Chris Devenski would represent the team at the All-Star Game in Miami.

But it would not be a season without obstacles. At one point, 80 percent of the starting rotation was on the disabled list. Correa and Springer, who at midseason joined Altuve as legitimate MVP candidates, would see DL time in the second half. August would bring the first losing month of the year.

And then there was Harvey.

Starting on the final Saturday of August, with the Astros in California for a series with the Los Angeles Angels, the Houston area was devastated by flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey, with rainfall totaling more than 50 inches over three days in some spots.

Fatalities numbered in the dozens. Those displaced from their homes numbered in the thousands. Did baseball even matter anymore?

Turns out it did. Although the Astros were routed to Tampa to play a three-game home series with the Rangers, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner was insistent that they return to Minute Maid Park for their next scheduled series against the New York Mets. The Astros could offer a welcome diversion, but they went beyond that. On their first full day back, they participated in hurricane relief efforts, immersing themselves in a community in need.

Out of Harvey arose a slogan: Houston Strong. It epitomized a city that would not be defeated by anything inflicted upon it.

And as if on a mission for something beyond themselves, the Astros returned to their winning ways, going 21-8 to close the season and finishing with 101 victories, a total that ranked second in franchise history.

Oh, did we mention Justin Verlander?

On Aug. 31, with seconds to spare in getting the paperwork processed, the Astros acquired the ace righthander in a trade-deadline deal with the Detroit Tigers. The final piece had arrived, confirmed by Verlanders winning all five of his September starts with his new club while posting a 1.06 ERA.

But winning in September is childs play compared to winning in October. A team has to be strong.

Up first in the playoffs were the AL East champion Boston Red Sox in the ALDS. The Astros won the first two games at home, but with Boston in position to even things and force a fifth game, Bregman hit a game-tying homer off Sox ace Chris Sale in the eighth inning, and Josh Reddick delivered the go-ahead single off closer extraordinaire Craig Kimbrel. How strong is that?

Then came the ALCS and the New York Yankees, baseballs most storied franchise, with 27 championships and 40 pennants to its name.

Things were looking good when the Astros tagged another premier closer, Aroldis Chapman, with a ninth-inning run in Game 2 to put them up 2-0 in the series. But the season was on the brink after New York won three consecutive games at Yankee Stadium.

Not to worry. After the series returned to Minute Maid, Verlander won Game 6, and Charlie Morton and McCullers teamed on a 4-0 Game 7 shutout, putting the Astros into the World Series for the second time. Strong stuff.

The final obstacle: the 104-win Los Angeles Dodgers in the first World Series since 1970 to feature a pair of 100-victory clubs.

After best-pitcher-of-his-time Clayton Kershaw mowed down the Astros in Game 1, they won a game for the ages in Game 2. Facing Kenley Jansen, the best closer on earth (and probably the galaxy), Marwin Gonzalez homered to tie the game at 3 in the ninth. Homers by Altuve and Correa put the Astros up 5-3 in the 10th, but the Dodgers evened things in the bottom half. Unfazed, Springer hit a two-run homer in the 11th, and Devenski, despite allowing a solo homer, held on for the biggest save of his career to seal the 7-6 victory.

A split of Games 3 and 4 left things tied. Cue another game for the ages.

In Game 5, the Astros overcame 4-1, 7-4 and 8-7 deficits scoring six runs off Kershaw in the process and held a 12-9 lead after eight innings. Then a three-run L.A. ninth elevated this one to an epic that will be hard to match. The minute-by-Minute Maid drama would end an inning later, when Bregmans RBI single off Jansen gave the Astros a 13-12 decision in the greatest game Houstons downtown ballpark has seen.

With a shift back to L.A., the Series was pushed to its max when the Dodgers beat Verlander in a 3-1 Game 6. But with Springer tying a Series record with his fifth home run as the Astros took a 5-0 lead in the second inning of Game 7, five pitchers teamed to shut down the Dodgers 5-1. Morton sparkled over the final four innings, and when Gurriel gloved Altuves throw from second to first for the final out, there was rejoicing in H-town.

In what had been a heavyweight prize fight in baseball form, the Astros emerged strongest.

Now comes the savoring. The highlights of the most memorable season in Astros annals, as reported and photographed by the supremely talented staff members who covered the team for the Houston Chronicle, are contained within these pages.