Houston is the first team to appear in the Fall Classic in both leagues. Twelve years apart, might I add.
The Colt 45's, the original name of the franchise, which joined the National League in 1962, along with the New York Mets (World Series winners in 1969 and 1986). They changed their name to the Astros in 1965, but didn't climb above .500 until 1969.
Their first postseason was 1980. They lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, who went on to win their first World Championship. After losing in 1981 to the Montreal Expos (Making THEIR first postseason appearance) and the Mets in 1986, it was a bit of a wait to taste some October action again.
Beginning in 1997, the Astros made it to the postseason six time in nine years. Their best showing was in 2005. Houston knocked off the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS, and then the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS. Alas, they faced the Chicago White Sox in the World Series. The Sox were seeking their first World Championship since 1917, so they'd waited a long time.
The games were all close. Game three went 14 innings. The next game was 1-0. Games one and three were decided by just two runs. You get the idea. But the Astros were brought down to earth in four games. The pitching of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte was not enough. This ended up being Houston's last postseason appearance while in the senior circuit. Twelve years, in fact, would elapse before the Astros made it this far again.
In 2013, Houston found themselves in another league. The American League. Just three seasons into their foray of the junior circuit, back the Astros were in October. The Kansas City Royals were a little too tough for them in the ALDS, besting Houston 3-2. This 2015 Kansas team went on to beat the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS (Six games) and then beat the New York Mets in five games to win it all.
Two seasons later...Houston found the eye of the needle to make a return trip. Winning their first AL Pennant was no easy task. The team won 101 games in the regular season, which was the Astros' second highest win total (102, in 1998). That might have been the easy part. The postseason was tough.
First came the Boston Red Sox, and Houston made it look easy in the ALDS. For the first two games. The Astros won them both by the score of 8-2. But in Fenway for game 3, it was Boston's turn to win easily, 10-3. Houston took game four, narrowly, 5-4.
Now, the New York Yankees.
Again, first two games to the Astros. The next three in New York? Won by, New York. The ALCS would be decided in Houston one way or another.
A masterful performance by Masahiro Tanaka on the mound was the key for game six. He went seven strong, didn't allow a run, and fanned eight. Tommy Kahnle took over for the next two innings and kept the shutout going, allowing just one hit. The final score was 5-0 for the home team. Winner-take-all game seven.
And Houston won it.
Like Tanaka, Justin Verlander threw scoreless ball through 7 innings before giving way to the bullpen. This time, the Yankees scored a run off Houston. Brad Peacock surrendered a solo home run to Aaron Judge in the top of the eighth. That made it 3-1. Houston would have to hold the fort.
Fortunately for them, Jose Altuve matched Judge's heroics with a home run of his own in the bottom of the frame. 4-1. The Astros scored three more times that inning. The Bronx Bombers never scored again. With the 7-1 game seven win, Houston was on to the World Series in 2017, to face the Los Angelels Dodgers.
References
Sports Reference LLC.
Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 23 Oct. 2017.
