It's all about change for Astros

Originally Published: February 10, 2005
By Jim Callis | Baseball America
After underachieving in 2002 and 2003, the Astros appeared to be doing more of the same last year. By late August, they had wasted most of the buzz from bringing Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte back home and hosting their first All-Star Game at Minute Maid Park. When Houston dropped two of three home games to the Cubs, it fell to 61-62 and a distant sixth in the National League wild-card race.

Then the Astros suddenly reversed course, winning 31 of their final 39 games to surge into the playoffs. They beat the Braves in the Division Series and took a three-games-to-two lead in the Championship Series before the Cardinals rallied to deny them a trip to the World Series. That disappointment only took away slightly from the most successful season in the franchise's 44-year history, both on the field (Houston never had won a postseason series before) and at the box office (the club drew a record 3,087,872 fans).


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Jim Callis

Fantasy
  • Executive Editor, Baseball America
  • Editor, Baseball America Prospect Handbook
  • Covered baseball since 1987

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