Brian T. Smith - Liftoff!: The Tank, the Storm, and the Astros Improbable Ascent to Baseball Immortality

This book is dedicated to my wife and parents

Contents

Authors Note

We never lost perspective of what was important. I saw these guys at the community center.I saw these guys do good deeds for people as they start to rebuild the city. And I think thats why the city fell in love with this team all over again, and why we had that Houston Strong strength that carried us a long way.

Astros manager A.J. Hinch

They were the worst team in baseball. Not even worth watching. As bad as anything the city had ever seen and one of the biggest embarrassments in the history of major league baseball.

They became the best team in baseball. Instantly and constantly addicting. Loaded with names, faces, and stories people loved. True winners in a city that needed new hope. World champions during a year when it felt like everything was suddenly falling apart.

Jos Altuve.

George Springer.

Carlos Correa.

Justin Verlander, Dallas Keuchel, Alex Bregman, and A.J. Hinch.

Jeff Luhnow, the architect of it all. Jim Crane, who went from the most-loathed owner in Houstons thriving pro sports scene to the man venerated for the construction of a World Series winner in just six years. For a while, those years felt like decades. For Houston, the wait from 1962 to 2017 almost felt like forever.

Then you throw in the chaos and destruction of Hurricane Harvey; the depressing, lonely, 100-loss seasons when the Lastros were the annual laughingstock of MLB; all the names and faces that just kept changing and changing and changingall in the name of a rebuild that took years just to reach rock bottom. The painful collapse in Game 4 of the 2015 American League Division Series against the eventual world-champion Kansas City Royals. The fact that, when the reconstructed Astros finally did make their first real moves at the trade deadline, they really did not get any better. And then when everyone knew they were maybe just a few names away two years later, the team waited until absolutely the last minute to finally wrap Verlander in orange and blue.

So when it all came together after waiting 56 years? Of course, it felt and looked like brilliant, perfect magic.

I am typing this three months later and I still find myself struggling to believe it.

All the T-shirts that you still see everywhere say, World Champions. The hats, stickers, photos, and newspaper reprintsand everything else that displays lasting, indisputable proof of the winners of the 2017 World Seriesnow woven into this winning city.

But then I randomly think back to some forgotten name or horrendous game from the 111-loss 2013 team, and I have another one of those moments. The rebuild was realmassive and unforgiving. The tear-down. The reconstruction. Blowing it all up, digging down so deep, betting everything on proving almost everyone wrongand then taking Mark Appel over Kris Bryant during the same year they lost 111 games.

Those Astros really won the World Series?

They sure as heck did.

Because of Altuve, Springer, Correa, Verlander, Keuchel, and Bregman. Because Hinch was the perfect fit and voice from day one. Because the plan kept evolving, Luhnow kept adapting, Crane stepped up when he had to, and the Astros really were as smart and forward-thinking as they acted.

But, really, it all came down to heart, personal drive, and natural talent that just kept being refined. And for all the numbers, statistics, projections, advanced analytics, defensive shifts, and everything else that has absolutely altered the grand old game, the 2017 Astros were also the best team in baseballwith an emphasis on team.

They loved to play baseball. So much that they refused to stop. From early February in sunny West Palm Beach, Florida, to November 1 in the glowing, electric Los Angeles night at Dodger Stadium, when a relentless team that was still ahead of schedule ended the season of the highest-priced club in the game.

The rebuilt Astros were simply betterand more fun.

Altuve playing his heart out, proudly covered in dirt. Springer refusing to fail, then not believing what he was seeing. Bregman acting like a 23-year-old but playing like he was 30. Verlander and Keuchel challenging everyone around them to keep fighting, after both had already placed the team on their backs. Hinch always so calm and cool, but also fueled by a fire that guided his Astros to a final stage reserved only for champions.

They took a wrecking ball to it all and said that maybe one day there would be a trophy. No promises, because that is just how baseball goes. Then they built a team that won your hearts, honored a recovering city, and will last as long as baseball does.

From 111 losses to 101 wins. Through the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Into your lives forever.

The once horrible, then amazing, Houston Astros.

Liftoff.

TimelineCountdown to Liftoff

July 20, 2011: Jos Altuve makes his major league debut at Minute Maid Park, going 1-for-5 as the Astros fall to 3365.

September 28, 2011: Six years after Houston appears in its first World Seriesa 4-0 defeat to the Chicago White Soxthe Astros finish 56106, worst in major league baseball.

November 17, 2011: MLB approves Jim Cranes purchase of the Astros. With the sale, Houston is set to move to the American League.

December 7, 2011: The Astros hire Jeff Luhnow as general manager. He begins an unprecedented organizational rebuild.

June 4, 2012: The Astros select shortstop Carlos Correa with the No. 1 overall pick in MLBs amateur draft. Pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. is later taken at No. 41.

August 18, 2012: Houston fires manager Brad Mills. The Astros finish 55107 and are again the worst team in baseball.

September 27, 2012: Bo Porter, then third-base coach for the Washington Nationals, is hired as Houstons new manager.

March 31, 2013: The Astros beat the Texas Rangers 82 at Minute Maid Park in their AL debut. The Opening Day victory is the only time all season the Astros are above .500.

June 6, 2013: The Astros select pitcher Mark Appel with the No. 1 pick in the draft. The Chicago Cubs take third baseman Kris Bryant at No. 2.

July 14, 2013: Houston enters the All-Star break at 3361. The teams active payroll soon drops below $15 million.

September 29, 2013: The Astros lose 15 straight games to end the season, amassing a franchise- record 111 losses with only 51 wins. Houston has the worst record in MLB for the third year in a row.

April 16, 2014: Outfielder George Springer, the No. 11 pick of the 2011 draft, makes his major league debut for the Astros.

September 1, 2014: On the way to a 7092 record, a fourth-place finish in the AL West, and sixth straight losing season, the Astros fire Porter. He finishes with a 110190 mark in Houston.

September 28, 2014: Altuve wins his first MLB batting crown, hitting .341 for the season.

September 29, 2014: A.J. Hinch is named the Astros new manager.

April 30, 2015: Houston goes 157 during its first month under Hinch. The Astros reach 3420 in early June before a seven-game losing streak.

June 8, 2015: Correa makes his major league debut for the Astros. On the same day, Houston selects infielder Alex Bregman with the No. 2 pick in the draft. (McCullers debuted on May 18.)

October 4, 2015: Despite going 1116 in September and losing their final game of the regular season, the Astros clinch their first postseason appearance in a decade during Game 162. Houston finishes 8676 in its first season under Hinch, two games behind the Rangers for first place in the AL West.