Look, maybe the Astros sweep this weekend, and Boston or Texas helps us, and we sneak into the playoffs as the last Wild Card, and go on a run, but all of that is unlikely. The 2025 Astros were never all that good - after losing Bregman and Tucker, and the replacements either being bad (Walker) or getting hurt (Paredes). Then Yordan got hurt, and came back and raked and got hurt again. The bullpen unsurprinsgly wore down. This might be the year the Astros don't make the playoffs. They may get there next year in 2026 if injury luck isn't as bad, but still, they are unlikely to get there this year because the Mariners went 16-1 in Septemeber.
It's at this moment you get mad at yourself for ending your "22 Thougths on the 2022 Astros" with talk of the dynasty to come. It isn't coming. It could've been there in 2023 - they arguably should've won the AL that year, and probably would have beaten the D'Backs. But by 2024, it was gone. In 2025, it is very gone. It is ironic this is 10 years after their rebirth in 2015. At this point, I do start to get nostalgic. It is a sig how old I am to watch one of my teams be god awful and build up after tanking, do it about successful as anyone ever, and then reach the tail end of their compettive run once again. So, as anyone faced with that hand of cards, I'll look to the past - here are my 15 favorite plays during the 2017-2022 Astros dynasty. I'm of course exclduing 2023, but I will say the Altuve HR in Game 5 would rank quite high, even if they went out and laid two abhorrent eggs in Game 6-7.
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15.) Carlos Beltran 2B (Game 4, 2017 ALDS)
Most of these will be in 2017 and 2022. No surprise there. A few will be in 2019 and 2021, the seasons that at least the Astros made the World Series before falling on themselves. Maybe a couple will be 2018 and 2020. But let's start with a forgetting one in 2017. At this point, the Astros hadn't won a playoff series. They won the first two games in Houston without much fuss, before losing Game 3. But here we saw ourselves up 4-3 - a blown loss away from a winner take all game. But Carlos Beltran hit a double to give an insurance run (that was needed - the Astros won 5-4). There are two weird memories here - first was I was following the game on MLB.tv, at work in California at the time. It probably was the last time I followed an Astros playoff game exclusively on the app. That "In Play (Runs)" never hit harder. And second, it was still just weird rooting for Beltran. If I included the 2004-05 playoffs in this, Beltran may figure a good amount, but he also just skipped town. Fuck him, but love him also.
14.) Yordan Alvarez HR (Game 1, 2022 ALDS)
Arguably it should be higher up. It was the first ever walk-off home run in the playoffs hit with the team trailing by more than one run. It takes a weird set of circumstances to even allow for such a hit, but here we had it, and Yordan delivered with something unholy. But I only have it this far down because (1) I didn't see it - busy at a work all hands meeting and (2) I think the Astros probably win the series anyway. Shame me, but I just think ALDS memories are not as meaningful as ALCS and WS ones. Case in point, I have zero moments from the ALDS in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 on this list. Of course, I do know who we beat in each one of those years, but it just isn't all that important. We're deep enough into the game that the ALDS win isn't the goal. All that said, Jesus setting history was something beautiful.
13.) Kyle Tucker HR (Game 6, 2021 ALCS)
Yes, the 2021 seasons ended sourly, with a fairly meek World Series loss to the Braves, but the one silver lining was beating the Red Sox (fuck Boston, as always) in the ALCS, payback for the 2018 series where the Red Sox beat the Astros despite being outhit in the series. The Astros won Game 6 in the end 5-0, shutting down Boston with a 2-hitter, started by Luis Garcia. It was mesmerizing, but it walso nerve wrackign entering the eighth inning with the Astros leading just 2-0. In that inning, Kyle Tucker, the last Top-10 pick the rebuilding Astros would ever have, the last of the mega-prospects, hit a tower, beautiful, majestic home run to make it 5-0. It calmed me down It got the Minute Maid Park all up in arms. It was a poetic moment. It was probably the moment that cemented the Astros as a King of the new AL - what better way than beating both the Yankees (2017, 2019 - 2022 to come) and Red Sox in the ALCS to do it.
12.) Michael Brantley 2B (Game 3, 2021 ALCS)
I talked about the 2021 ALCS earlier. It ended up being relatively smooth, but the Red Sox did win Game 1 and Game 3, and led 2-1 entering the 8th in Game 4. The Astros tied it, and then took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 9th. The bases were loaded, the world was still humming, and then Michael Brantley, Mr "Professional Hitter" himself, laced a double to clear the bases, making it 6-2. The Astros would win game 4 easily, and we talked about Game 5 previously. At the moment before Brantley's hit, the horrific 2018 ALCS collapse was still fresh in our minds. That series, the Astros out-hit the Red Sox, but couldn't string together hits to save their lives. In this one, there was a chance the same could happen. The Astros bullpen was still up and down. A 3-2 lead into the 9th was precarious. Brantley made it all moot, and shut up that Boston crowd. The Astros jumped to a 7-0 lead in Game 5, so really after that Brantley hit, the Boston crowd coudln't cheer for much at all.
11.) Final Out (Game 4, 2022 WS)
Look, I know the Astros cheated in 2017. There are still 2017 moments to come because obviously I didn't know it at the time, and I remain someone who believes both (a) the level it helped them was overstated and (b) other teams were doing something similar. But whatever, by 2022, the 2017 win was a bit sour. So yeah, it was damn nice to just win one after that. I've long held that I would love all All Time great players to win at least one ring, and that I want my favorite teams if they're in some sort of dynastic run to win two. Well, here was my two. The game was still relatively close at this point, but once that ball was lofted towards Kyle Tucker, I was in a state of elation. It was the real crowning, if anything, of this Astros run. Doubly so if this group never gets back.
Ok, spoiler alert, this is the only one on this list from a year they didn't make the World Series. None from 2018 because the ALCS was harrowing, and the ALDS was one of the great blowouts of all time. It went from zero tension to zero fun. In 2020, the Astros were not good - all players had awful years or were injured. They only made the playoffs because of an expanded playoff field and MLBs weird way of ranking. They went down 0-3 in teh ALCS, but won Game 4 and then Correa hit a walk-off in Game 5. All the games were played in San Diego, but for a second, it felt like Houston. For a second, in October of 2020, when the world was still very much shit, everything seemed right. I even remember where I watched this game - on the futon in the "playroom" in my parents house. They would win Game 6, before losing meekly in Game 7. The weird paradox of this team
9.) Jose Altuve & Carlos Correa HRs (Game 2, 2017 WS)
Game 2 and Game 5 of the 2017 WS will be well represented on this list, but let's start out with one of the signature moments of "yeah, we're fucking good" in taht series, when Altuve and Correa went back to back, to very similar parts of Dodgers Stadium to silence that crowd. Yes, ironically the Astros would blow that lead and still win the game, but at that moment, to me it was the MVP (Altuve) and the superstar MVP-to-be (Correa) going abck to back. It was symbolic more than anything. They could've easily still lost the series, and it would still rank highly. To do it to shut up Dodger Stadium was just a plus. Correa never got to those MVP heights (though we'll see him again in this ranking) but I don't know if there was a moment he was at more of a peak in belovedness than after that HR. It was the moment that the Astros announced they would not go quietly into that night, and if anything could very well outhit the Dodgers.
8.) Alex Bregman 1B (Game 5, 2017 WS)
7.) Chas McCormick's Catch (Game 5, 2022 WS)
Game 5s in our two wins are just incredible games. Obviously, the 2017 version will live in history as one of the craziest, greatest baseball games ever played, but the 2022 vintage was pretty special. The Astros were clinging to a 3-2 lead, after escaping numerous jams when Verlander was in teh game, to getting an amazing pluck at 1st by Trey Mancini in the 8th. It was 3-2, and JT Realmuto hit a deep dive. I was in a bar with coworkers, probably one of three (out of 40) actually watchign this game, and saw McCormick drift back and back and jump and somehow catch it. He really shouldn;t have - it was an audacious catch taht shut up Citzens Bank Park. It put the Astros one out away from a 3-2 lead. It was the end, basically, to one of the more tightly played, dramatic games I've ever seen - at least in terms of low scoring ones.
6.) Carlos Correa HR (Game 2, 2019 ALCS)
The 2019 ALCS was a weird one, where the Astros won two games by the skin of their teeth (this one and Game 6, where a moment is yet to come) and the other two by embarrassing New York in New Yoro. Well, before this moment - the series was very much in flux. The Yankees won Game 1 easily in Houston - embarrassing the Astros really. The led for some of a tight Game 2. I was in SFO Airport, needing to board my redeye back to New York after a weekend watching a Count the Dings live show where I talked shit to way too many Yankee fans. There was a moment where I wasn't sure the game would end before I had to board my 10pm PST flight, but sitting there at Uncork'd in SFO, I watched on TV Correa hit one of the most dominant, boss-like HRs to win it - oppo with power and it being a no-doubter. Correa tapped his wrist - indicating this was his time. Carlos is a strange figure for Astros fans, clearly a hero, but someone who also never quite lived up to the maximum expectations, but it was moments like these that will always live for all of us.
5.) Brian McCann 2B (Game 7, 2017 ALCS)
The 2017 ALCS was a slog. The Astros were way better than the Yankees that year, but the Yankees kept chipping away. The Yankees were at their most Yankee-ish when they came back from 4-0 down after 6 innings in Game 4. They won all three in Yankee stadium. The Astros won Game 6 fairly easily, but Game 7 was still very close until late, when Brian McCann, a rental taht summer to instill some maturity into a bunch of kids, came up huge with a double that scored two and made it 4-0. It was the unlikeliest of heroes against a heretofore dominant Tommy Kahnle. It was a beautiful hit into the corner of Minute Maid's right field. It gave my cousin Andy and I, watching this at a bar in Nashville, a sigh of relief and honestly the beginning of a celebration that wouldn't stop for hours. The Astros were going to the World Series (Lance McCullers bevy of curveballs were a fait accompli) - the rebuild was done.
4.) Marwin Gonzalez HR (Game 2, 2017 WS)
It's funny that this HR made it 3-3 and the game ended 7-6 with five more home runs hit after this one (including two that I already covered) but this moment was still the most amazing one. Up until this point, the Astros lost 3-1 in Game 1 against Kershaw (who was brilliant) and were two outs away from losing 3-2 in Game 2. But against Kenley Jansen in a year of unkillable brilliance, it seemed over. Especially since Jansen was facing the 7-8-9 hitters. The Dodgers were like 75-1 or something up after eight innings. But switch-hitting super-utility man Marwin Gonzalez got a hold of a cutter, the breeze was blowing the right way that day (see the eight home runs) and it was tied. The Astros had life. The Astros were dead before this. Every moment of their run towards the 2017 World Series started that night with a weird choked-up-on-the-bat swing by a utility man against a monster closer.
3.) George Springer HR (Game 7, 2017 WS)
The 2017 World Series was an all timer, but Game 7 was a dud. In the best way, and the moment it became one was when George Springer, on his second at bat, hit a swooping bomb out to right center and made it 5-0. I was pretty sure at that moment that it was over. It was - the Dodgers threatened maybe once or twice more and got a run, but it was smooth sailing those last seven innings. It was 5-0, Springer had his fifth straight game with a homer, and it was all celebrations in Astro land (my house). To me, it also meant a lot that it was Springer. He was the first big draft pick that became a great prospect and then player. He hit such majestic home runs at times. He did go hot and cold, but few have ever been as hot as him in the 2017 World Series, and the second he connected, we knew we were Champs.
2.) Jose Altuve HR (Game 6, 2019 ALCS)
Series clinching walk off home runs are more rare than you think. Them happening in a LCS or World Series even more so. There have been just three this century (the 00s) and my team did one of those (Magglio Ordonez in 2006 and Travis Ishikawa in 2014 the others), so yeah it's really high up even if the subsequent World Series was a giant disappointment. The Altuve home run also came the half inning after the Astros blew the game ni the top of the 9th when the Yankees hit a game tying home run off of Roberto Osuna (you know, the guy the Astros traded for after his DA allegations came out - yeah, I'm pretty happy we fired Jeff Luhnow and Co. into the sun). At that point I found it pretty likely they were going to lose that game and we would need a game 7, but then Altuve took the hammer to Aroldis Chapman, teeing off on a not-even-all-that-bad changeup, just murdering it to the deepest part of the park. The Joe Buck call was epic as well - I can still hear that "Altuve.... sends the Astros to the World Series" ringing in my head. That was also the last pure moment we ahd in the run, as of course the World Series would end roughly and then the sign stealing stuff would come out days later. We ended it on a high note.
1.) Yordan Alvarez HR (Game 6, 2022 World Series)
Memories of 2019 were still in all of our minds, when the Astros returned back to Minute Maid up 3-2, put tons of runners on in both games, but lost both and lost the World Series. The script was seemingly repeating itself, with the Astros threatening a lot in Game 6, but still down in 1-0 in the sixth, when up stepped Alvarez with runners on teh corners. After his incredible home run in Game 1 of the ALDS and subsequent one in Game 2, he had gone quiet. He was having a rough go, for him. But then he got pissed off I guess because they brought in a lefty. Alvarez somehow hits lefties exactly as well as he hits righties, but Phillies manager Rob Thompson didn't get that memo. Jose Alvarado hung a fastball at 99mph and Alvarez hit it about 120mph to dead center. It was gone the second it left the bat. It was the purest swing, purest outome. It would've been a no-doubter had Tal's Hill still been a thing. It went to seats that never get a chance to get a home run ball. It was also the moment we won the World Series - the last nine outs a fait accompli for the most dominant postseason bullpen (by performance) of all time. Yordan Alvarez was our monster and I truly don't think there has ever been a purer hit home run of such importance, the capstone on the two titles and cementing this Astros run as something that will always be complete.