It's not that I don't care about the Astros season. I was a bit annoyed at their listless start, but understood it giving Jose Altuve's injury in the WBC, the loss of 2.5 starters that were presences in 2022 (McCullers, Garcia and Urquidy - who is now back), and gotten used to slow starts from guys like Bregman. But over time they started winning games, and while have been chasing the Rangers from day one (more on them in a bit), they were good enough to pretty calmly get one of the three wild cards. They are good enough to maybe even make some noise. But them sleepwalking about to a high-80's, low-90's season is a lot more enjoyable now. But more than that, getting that 2nd ring last year makes me at peace with this era of the Astros, and ready to enjoy what else is there.
I've loved what has happened in Baltimore, their trajectory being eerily similar - if not even more dramatic - than the Astros a decade ago. They too were tanking through three straight 105+ loss seasons, and two years later find themselves being one of the best teams in the league. They are a legit 100-win threat. They are a legit World Series threat, with a bevy of young guys. Adley Rutschmann and Gunnar Henderson playing this version of Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman. They even have the Astros old assistant GM in Mike Elias running the show.
I've loved what has happened in Arizona, and Cincinnati, from catching clips of Corbin Carroll, to every insane clip and moment of Elly De La Cruz. These teams are the future - each hopefully able to string together sustained success (though none likely to do what the Astros did with six straight ALCS trips). The Astros may have some role to play in that future, but they've either graduated or traded away their top prospects - another recently to re-get Verlander. These other teams are years away of having to deal with that decision to "win now". I should be envious of these teams at the beginning, but honestly more just happy to got to experience it once/
Two aspects have surprised me in this peace I'm having. First is I honestly don't care about theoretical rivals or teams I am supposed to not like. Watching Shohei Ohtani break the sport has been amazing, and that brief window where it seemed they have a shot at the playoffs was fun. Watching this young Rangers team whack the cover off of the ball has been fun. But more shockingly, I haven't even minded that two of my most hated MLB teams are/were having surprisingly good years. The Cubs coming back from their 2021 tear down was more fun than I could have ever imagined. Even the Red Sox brief dalliance with relevance was at the very least interesting. I'm not fully broken free of the hater side of course - as I've taken far more joy in the Red Sox woes since the trade deadline.
The other point that has crystallized is that I will forever live by my mantra of "I only want to win twice." Granted, there is some arrogance is asking to win a second time. Many fans never seen the team win the one time. But contrast my contentness of where the Astros have been vs. my constant incoherent, dawdling and dreading around the post-2006 career Peyton Manning. A lot of my life might have been different had the Colts just won the Super Bowl in 2009. Sure, I finally got my second Manning ring, but in between 2009 and 2015 were a lot of great memories but a lot of sullen losses or horrifying feelings of despair as it relates to sprots. It's not healthy, for sure. I need to fix this. But also I have shown that I wasn't being too greedy. Had the Colts won the 2009 Super Bowl, I truly I would have been in a significantly better headspace to witness the tail end of Brady's career.
Back to the Astros. I'll never forget these six years - really eight years counting 2015 and 2016. Six straight ALCSs is an all time run. Four World Series Trips, and two rings is even better. This was an incredible ride, and yes the Astros are probably on the down-slope. The team is already certainly not improving on their 2022 record. And given how many players that they've traded away, I know that thsi ride probably ends with a period of irrelevance. Hopefully nothing that resembles 2011-2013 ever again. But when those back-to-back 75-87 years come, I'll sit happy watching the rest of the league grow and the amazing things players are doing every day, always having memories of thsi 2017-2022 run to look back to, and smile.
