Astros are on pace to be one of the most dominant teams in MLB history

I noticed the historic run differential a few games back.

You don't get trophies for best run differential, but having the largest one in 80 seasons would be pretty f**king impressive.

 

I agree with you, but I will say one thing that might justify some of the angst/expectations:

If Houston wins 308 games (avg ~103/season) in 2018-2020, their record from 2011 thru 2020 will still only be .500.

Since Houston had to put up with watching the worst team in the league (BY FAR) for 3 years during the dark times, is it too much to expect to have the best team (BY FAR) during the good times?

 

I don't think it's too much to expect. Being a fan back then was horrible, especially since for a couple years there weren't even prospects coming up to be excited about (except for Altuve). The feeling I have now is, "Wow, they actually pulled it off." Kudos to them. I think, for me, with the ring and how dominant they look going forward, I can say definitely that it was all worth it.

 

I'd rather suffer through an actual rebuild and have a chance at a dynasty and 1 World Series win than do what they did all through the 80's and 90's. I recall at some point the Astros record for a ten year stretch with Biggio and Bagwell was 2nd best in MLB. They were usually in the mix but never favorites.

I will state that the rebuild and TV deals effectively killed my son's love to watch baseball. At least my oldest, a daughter is hard core baseball fan and Astros fan. That might have been from the Hooks games we used to go watch now that I think of it.

 

Gonna go ahead and disagree here. The 90s were fun as hell. Two legit stars and a chance at a ring almost every year.

 

Nothing wrong with the 93-06 stretch. Even if we didn't win a WS, we fielded a competitor with a legit shot almost every year.

The 07-10 stretch was what was completely unacceptable. Losing is losing, whether it's 90 losses or 105 losses. I was personally completely happy that we went balls deep in the rebuild, and didn't pointlessly attempt to acquire "proven talent" to lose a few less games. The increased losing assured us top picks, and premium talent.

Had we "only" lost 90 games from 11-13, fans still would have lost interest.

 

Well we had no prayer in ‘90. We were in rebuild mode in ‘91 and lost 95 games. Amazingly .500 in ‘92. In’93 we underperformed but had a great nucleus. ‘94 we were awesome but there was a strike. ‘95 I think we missed the playoffs. Then, for the next 4 years we made the playoffs and lost easily every year.

I think the 80’s were better than the 90’s

 

The worst part about 07-10 is that they stopped focusing on the international players, and they stopped paying money to sign draft picks.

I didn't mind them still trying to make the MLB product on the field somewhat marketable/entertaining. But they stopped devoting resources to the farm... and inevitably, that's how you bottom out.

Even now... as Luhnow/Elias hasn't had a #1 pick since the Brady Aiken deal (and the one prior to that was the Mark Appel deal)... they still churn out a consistently good (if not great) farm system by simply signing most of their picks and having strong foundational programs at the minor league level.

 

We passed the Yankees in runs per game, only by fractions of a point, but still first.

So we are currently 1st in runs per game, and fewest runs allowed per game.

 

To be honest I'd rather this team have the most wins all time over a World Series.

We already have a WS and can get more in the future but this will likely be our best chance ever to get the most wins.

 

WTF?

 

Most wins in ML history of 116? He are at the half way point and have 53 banked. That would mean we need to go 63 and 18 as a finishing kick. Not likely. Actually, is such a thing even possible? I don't think so.

If, however, you mean club record for most wins, I don't see any particular reason why we won't be awesome again in 2019. With average luck this years Astros squad could be looking at contending for the 116, but that ship has already sailed this year imo.

 

The ultimate goal is a World Series victory. I don't care if they win 110+ or sneak into the playoffs. What trophy does the team with the most wins ever have? Pretty sure every single 2001 Seattle Mariner or 1906 Chicago Cub would trade that "all time win record" for the World Series title.

 

This group has a chance to be in the conversation with some of the all-time greats...Big Red Machine, etc...I'm a greedy b*stard, I want more trophies.

 

Someone wins a WS every year. The opportunity to watch greatness over 162 games would be pretty cool. I know I wouldn't trade going 162-0 even for a WS title if we didn't already have one. But, if we knock off 3 out of 5 or something like that, and we had a 120 win team in there that didn't win the title due to some fluke or whatever I could totally see saying - hey, that team that won the most games of all time was my favorite ride during the entire run. I'd prefer that to a fluke WS title like when the Cardinals were basically hammered dog ****, got in on the last day of the year and luck boxed their way into a ring.

 

This team will win the most games ever AND win the WS, as I predicted before the season. Greatest team ever.

 

Also, the window with this team is pretty wide. We could have this core for another 5+ years if all works out.

 

We didn't make it in until 1997. Expanding the playoff teams from 4 to 8 was huge. When we finally tasted playoff success it was as a Wild Card. I'd say 1992-1999 was a great run.

 

Care to make a tip jar bet on that?