More confident entering the playoffs... '98 or '17

2017. No Kevin Brown and Trevor Hoffman's to dominate us.

 

I am stoked for the post season, but, I thought we were for sure going to play the Yankees in 98

 

98 seemed like the lineup had too many holes. And then the guys who did produce in the regular season; Biggio, Bagwell, Bell, and Alou, may as well not have suited up for the playoffs.

This lineup is better 1-9 and a better bench. Ausmus and Eusebio vs McCann and Gattis? Lol. Maybe I am still PTSD over the abysmal postseason offense from the 97-99 teams though.

 

Sale and Kimbrel?

it's going to be weird if we play Boston in our last regular season series and then in round 1 of the playoffs

I wonder how Hinch will handle those final games

 

Yea or Kluber Miller. That's why getting the best record in the AL is appealing to me. Keuchal and Verkander against wildcard winner's 2 and 3?

I wonder what those final games stakes will be. Could be playing for best record in AL or if the wheels come off for home field.

 

Love the pitching of 2005 (Oswalt-Pettitte-Clemens-Playoff Backe with Lidge)
Love the hitting of 2004 (Killer B's at its height + Ensberg/Kent)
The 1998 team was probably the most balanced -- don't trust Bell/Bogar/Ausmus with bats. Hampton/Lima weren't great until the following year.
Too young for the 1986 team.

For this team... it has the highest ceiling of the options I feel, but injuries have limited my expectations. Maybe just a bit paranoid... but if we don't have a healthy McCullers... or a Will Harris fully recovered... I am a little concerned.

 

Just collect 'em data points for the pitcher tendencies and spray charts. I trust the Astros data folks to out-data the Red Sox data folks...

 

No Kevin Brown, No Sterling Hitchcock, no Jim Leyritz, no problem.

 

Really thought at the time that tandem could get us there.

 

I assume we really don't need to start a thread that is titled "Playoff Backe is real"

 

No question...1998. I thought that team was going to kill it in the playoffs.

 

My Mom used to be married to his grandfather. Real sad what actually happened to him.

 

Probably 2015 or 2017. 2015 Astros were worse than this year's squad, but 2017 teams in general outside of NL Central (even then Cubs this year are still very good) looks to have stronger teams in my opinion. Plus, 2015 Keuchel was a beast.

In 1998, Yankees looked really good. I was very confident Astros would sweep the floor with the NL.

 

1998 Astros arguably had the best hitters and the best ace.

mid-2000 Astros arguably had the playoff rotation and closer.

2017 Astros hitters are not that far behind the 1998 club. 2017 Astros rotation is also very solid. What the 2017 Astros have that the other teams did not is depth. The 6-9 hitters and bench is the best of the bunch. The 2017 bullpen also has better depth.

 

98 for sure but it's easier to remember the negative stuff when it's more current. The Oakland series and the mediocrity of much of the 2nd half is still fresh on my mind for the current squad.

This may be an even better team though, particularly if we get prime Keuchel/Verlander and the big bats are back. Can certainly beat anyone. But I thought we were invincible with Randy Johnson. There was no doubt we were getting to the World Series.

04 with Beltran is probably a World Series team if Pettite was healthy.

 

Hard to say, I'd probably go with 2005 because of the rotation and the near WS team in 2004.

 

The playoff roster of the 98 team was airtight, so that was easily the most confident I was.

In honesty 17,04,05 and 99 are all pretty similar to me. Legitimate chances to win it all, but no reason to be over the moon about their chances

The baseball playoffs are just too unpredictable to feel great about any one team's chances.

 

Heh, looking back at the '98 'Stros brings back a flood of memories of names I haven't heard in a loooooonnng time. Like Pete Incaviglia. Of course, I was 14, so memory's a little fuzzier than this year, although I remember that Johnson trade quite well.

The linchpin of picking the '98 Astros, in my opinion, is Larry Dierker, who I think consistently made the team overperform given its constitution.

It's so hard to ignore what happened in the second half of this year, even though we've won the division, and players are healthy again and we have Verlander now. It's hard to have a lot of faith, especially when you've seen a team go from legendary run production to scraping for runs. And I never saw a major league team lose multiple games due to fielding mistakes before this year.

But I think the sum of the parts of this team is better than the '98 team. If you put Dierker in charge of THIS team, I'd be thinking World Series win.

I guess I'll go with the 2017 Astros, because I think they have a higher ceiling IF they can reach it, which is the #1 question.

I will say that I never had any faith in the 2000s teams. Way too streaky. Those teams put stress on your heart at the end of a season, hoping they'd continue their ridiculous winning streaks while needing other teams to lose at the same time.

 

Everyone talking up the 1998 team should remember that the Braves won 106 that year in the NL and the Yankees won an incredible 114 games.

I remember thinking that the Astros had a shot but that the Braves would be very tough in the NL and then the Yankees awaited. The Astros were going to be heavy underdogs against the Yankees team.

The 2017 team is one of a number of teams capable of winning it, but it doesn't feel like there are any teams clearly better than everyone else. The Indians I suppose, Klubber is going to win the Cy Young award and the top end of their bullpen is nasty; but they have genuine holes. If you put a gun to my head I would say the 2005 or 2017 team. The 2005 team had the pitching rotation, but also knew in my heart that the offense wasn't what it needed to be.