Houston Astros: How Close?

This is the next is series of posts that will look at the closest Major League Baseball franchises have been to winning their last pennant and last World Series Championship. Four teams have won neither a World Series nor a pennant. Some teams have won a pennant, but no World Series. Many have won both, but its been a while since their last.

The next team is the Houston Astros.

Playoff appearances: 1980, 1981, 1986, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005.
NL Pennant: 2005

The Houston Astros began as a franchise in 1962. They were rarely in playoff contention during the first 15 years of existence. Only a 2nd place finish in the NL West during the 1972 season stands out between 1962 and 1978. But, the team jumped to a second place finish in 1979 and finally broke through for a NL West title in 1980. They did need to beat the Dodgers in a playoff game after both teams ended the season with identical 92-70 records.

In that playoff game, Art Howe drove in four runs and Joe Niekro beat Dave Goltz.

That led to an incredible NLCS between the Astros and Philadelphia. The final four games of the best of five series went to extra innings. Game five of that series saw the Phillies score runs in the top of the eighth inning to take a 7-5 lead. Houston tied the game in the bottom of the eighth. But, the Phillies scored a run in the tenth and held on for the pennant in the bottom of the tenth.

Plenty has been written elsewhere (and better) about the 1986 NLCS between the New York Mets and the Houston Astros. But, the Mets outlasted Houston in six games.

Houston made the playoffs four times between 1997 and 2001, but did not advance out of the first round until the 2004 playoffs. That was the year Houston tied the Cardinals with a run in the top of the ninth in game six, but lost on an Jim Edmonds homer in the bottom of the twelfth. Then, the Cardinals rallied from an early 2-0 deficit for a 5-2 win in game seven.

In 2005, the Astros ran the gauntlet and made it to the World Series. A game six victory in the NLCS win over St. Louis gave the Astros their first pennant.

But, the Chicago White Sox swept the 2005 World Series. The scores of those games were 5-3, 7-6, 7-5 (14 inn), and 1-0.

The Astros had the lead for one brief span of the entire series. In game two they scored twice in the fifth inning for a 4-2 lead. That lasted until the White Sox scored four in the seventh.

The following season, Houston got out to a 15-6 start and were in first place by a 1/2 game in the NL Central on April 27. From there, they fell well off the pace, put together a late charge, but could not catch St. Louis for the Division.

In 2007, Houston never seriously threatened Milwaukee or Chicago in the NL Central.

Based on this cursory look back, the answer to Houston Astros: How Close?

For a World Series championship, the Astros needed to get seven more outs for a win in Game Two of the 2005 series. Had they held on they would have needed three more wins after that.

For a pennant, the Astros led the NL Central by 1/2 game on April 27, 2006. They needed to hold that lead through the end of that season. From there they needed to win seven games in the playoffs to win a pennant.

That's how close.