For the first time in the teamâs 56-year history, the Houston Astros have been crowned World Series champions.
All it took was an insane seven-game series with unbelievable heroics from players on both the Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers, who together put baseball back in the spotlight.
Iâm not gonna front and act like Iâm the biggest baseball guy. I used to be deep into the Astros years ago during the âKiller Bâsâ era when Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell and Derek Bell played in the Astrodome, all the way through the teamâs previous World Series trip where Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Roy Oswalt ruled the mound.
Then, all my favorite players either retired or moved on to other teams as the Astros entered rebuilding mode, which means they stunk. Flat-out stunk. The team lost more than 100 games a year from 2011-2013 and the Astros fanfare slowly faded away, as not even people in Houston were paying attention. The team drew a 0.0 Nielsen rating twice during those years. Absolutely nobody was watching.
Now, everybody has seen the new-look Houston Astros, as Game 7 of the World Series drew 28.2 million viewers, and how could you not root for them?
Since the devastation Houston endured after Hurricane Harvey struck in August, the Astros have been a bright light in a dark situation, giving hope to fans and providing an escape from reality, even if for just nine innings at a time.
The Astros have built from the bottom up, and in doing so, rolled out the most lethal lineup in the MLB this season with their league leading 896 regular season runs. The teamâs best player is 5-foot-6-inch, 165-pound soaking wet second baseman, Jose Altuve. George Springer graced the cover of a Sports Illustrated issue in 2014 and was predicted to be the 2017 MVP of the World Series. Funny how that worked out.
Carlos Correa may be the best shortstop in the league, but he couldnât stop himself from making the biggest mistake ever following the teamâs World Series win. Correa proposed to his girlfriend on National Television, which, of course, she said yes to. Itâs like, bro, ever heard of Derek Jeter? Dude wrote the playbook on how to live as the gameâs best shortstop, dating the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Adriana Lima and Mariah Carey back when her voice used to be tolerable–now she just goes everywhere breaking glass when she speaks, but thatâs another column for another day. Stay tuned.
Even Justin Verlander, one of the greatest pitchers of this generation, got himself a ring. OK, I understand if youâre not rooting for Verlander. Dude is an ace and married to Kate Upton. Like, you canât have everything, bro, settle down. You ainât the Jeets.
So, now that the Astros have earned history with a World Series ring, hereâs to making more in 2018.
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