I don't know when I eventually did, it was probably about the time the Astros made their 4th straight ALCS last year, in that bastardized season where their 29-31 record, fit with a lot of hitters having off seasons. They still fought their way to the ALCS, beating their divisional rival A's in teh ALDS. They valiantly fought back from 0-3 down in the ALCS to force a game 7. In that moment, it was finally reasonably fun to be an Astros fan. Yes, they cheated. Yes they deserved scorn, but you could not say they didn't care or didn't fight or weren't great.
Following them this season has largely been a blast. They were somewhat underrated coming into the season - it made sense. When they won 107 games and reached the World Series they had a top offense coupled with a rotation led by Verlander and Cole. Both of those guys were gone, their starting rotation was Lance McCullers and a bunch of randoms. But they still had that offense... and oh did they ever.
Four years after this run started, after their sullied triumph led by their top ranked offense, they had the best offense again. By nearly every measure the Astros 2021 offense was the best in baseball. It was also exactly as good by WRC+ on the road as it was at home. They had Carlos Correa finally healthy for a full season. Altuve trading average for more power. Yordan Alvarez healthy again after missing much of 2019. Yuli Gurriel leading the AL in batting average. Kyle Tucker becoming a superstar who had probably the best September of any hitter. Even guys like Jake Myers playing decently well in George Springer's shoes. They were a dominant offense. It felt good again.
I don't ask for anyone's praise on my team. I know they're still hated, but to see them all succeed, and get back to where they so seemingly well belong - the ALCS - has been a joy. They dominated Chicago, themselves a great young lineup, scoring 6-9-6-10. They fought back after baseless cheating allegations after scoring 'just' six runs in Game 3 by clobbering the White Sox for ten in the clincher. They don't strike out. They don't give easy outs. They can hit incredibly well on the road. This is a great offense, period.
But it is so much more, it is the culmination of a five year run. The starting infield in these playoffs is the same it was in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. The infield of Gurriel - Bregman - Correa - Altuve is the best infield, from a playoff record perspective ever. The 2B/SS combo of Altuve - Correa is arguably the greatest double-pay tandem in playoff history. They just win series. I'm cherishing it because it just feels good to root for this team again.
I also cherish it because I don't know how much longer it lasts. When they won in 2017, it seemed limitless, and in some ways it was. The Astros won 101 games in 2017, they won 103 in 2018 (though by and large not being as good), and then 107 in 2019. They got better on offense somehow by 2019. They got better at pitching. They had it all, but quietly they were also slowly coming apart.
The first step was losing Cole after 2019, and then Verlander to Tommy John in 2020. Three straight seasons the Astros the Astros gave up prospects at the deadline to get star pitchers, and it undoubtedly worked, but it came at a great cost. Their farm system that was MLB's best around 2015, when this all started when Carlos Correa was called up, was slowly broken apart by both graduating prospects and giving them up.
Couple the pitcher splurging (none of the three are starting this postseason), with losing Springer and almost assuredly losing Correa this offseason, the Astros from 2017-2021 are very much ending. They'll be good next year. They still have most of the core of this team, and guys like Alvarez and Tucker are squarely top-20 hitters more or less. Verlander could be back. But losing Correa, after losing Springer, it won't be teh same. And that is OK - but that means I have to truly cherish this season and their accomplishment.
It's hard to realize this when it's happening, but the Astros five-straight ALCS appearances is an incredible accomplishment. The 70's A's did this, the 90's Braves did, but no one else - from the Yankees of recent times, to the Dodgers, to anyone. No, these Astros did. They did it with five guys, the four mentioned above and Lance McCullers there in 2017 and there today. They did it with enough consistent performers that Astros from this era litter high up in leaderboards of career playoff stats - see Jose Altuve getting his 19th postseason home run today to tie him with George Springer. The Astros are inevitable.
It won't always be this way. It wasn't this way. I became an Astros fan around 2001 or so, but in reality back in 2004. My first two years seriously following them they went to the NLCS two times, making the World Series the second year. Then they went through a sudden, seeming endless drop to disaster, from five seasons holding on to false hope (2006-2010), to three embarrasingly bad seasons of tanking and rebuilding (2011-13). We paid our dues, and we've been rewarded. Yes, that's why I'm even more upset and sad aroudn the cloud that surrounds 2017, but also why I feel ok letting that go and just going back to loving these guys.
I'm writing this paean now, not after the ALCS or the World Series, because for a lot of me I don't care too much if they lose. I would be upset. I would like the avenge the 2018 ALCS loss, a series that somehow the Astros lost 4-1 despite out-hitting the Red Sox in the series. It was a perfect example of how not to string hits together or how not to play the big moments. It was a series of tarps and fan interferences and great catches for Boston. It would be great to wipe some of that away, but even if we don't, the memory and the legacy of five straight ALCSs is enough to cement this team and to cement my memories, including 2017, forever.
