In 1999, I was able to finish work meetings with clients early and could watch the last several innings of Game 3 of the Astros-Braves National League Division Series at a sports bar in Santa Cruz, CA. Where I got to watch the Astros build a rally in the bottom of the 10th inning, and Walt Weiss squelch it with a diving stop of a Tony Eusebio screamer up the middle and a throw home to force Ken Caminiti at home.
And I reacted as you might expect, slamming my hand down in anger on the bar, and knocking over a barstool as I stepped outside to process what always happened to the Astros in the playoffs--something bad in the Division Series. The 1999 loss to the Braves (they won Game 3 in the 12th and closed out the Astros in the Dome in Game 4) marked the 3rd straight NLDS loss by the Astros; they went 2-9 in those years. They would go on to win the NL Central in 2001 and then promptly got swept by the Braves (again) in the DS.
I was 7 and 8 when the Astros lost their first two playoff series in 1980 and 1981, so I remember that they happened, but I don't remember the specifics of those games or what they felt like. But I was 13 in 1986, I followed the Astros every day in that glorious season, had great fun talking smack with Mr. Villamagna, my eigth-grade US History teacher and dedicated Mets fan. So when the Astros fell in 6 games, I internalized that hurt for years. I know this because I entered the stands at Shea Stadium for the first time shortly after I moved to the New York area in 2007, I looked out toward right field and thought "That's the foul pole that that *#@&^$* Lenny Dykstra hit in Game 3."
This seemed to be the eternal fate of us Astros fans in the 80's and 90's. The postseason might be a crapshoot, but the dice never fell in the Astros favor. Whether it was Walt Weiss's salute to Ozzie Smith, Kevin Brown dropping down sidearm or the Mets withstanding Billy Hatcher's blast off the foul pole, the Astros never seemed to win. New players would come in, the front office would make adjustments, but the outcome was always the same.
This changed of course in 2004, when the Astros finally won a Division Series over the Braves. They then ran into Jim Edmonds in the NLCS and less spoken of that the better. In 2005, the Astros finally created a moment of postseason magic in the Chris Burke game, and they won the NLCS for the first time--thanks to Roy Oswalt's desire for a new tractor. They then lost 4 straight to the White Sox.
This was our fate. Playoff loss after playoff loss. And those were the good years. The 2005 team was followed by a decade long playoff drought as the team went from mediocre to bad to the worst record in baseball for three straight seasons.
And that context...years of playoff failure. Years of the dice seeming loaded against the Astros, no matter how awesome Biggio and Bagwell and Berkman and Oswalt were. They never caught a break, and never could overcome the Braves or Cardinals to get somewhere.
That context is why I appreciate the team's current run of playoff success so much. They won their 5th straight Division Series today in Chicago.
You can see the difference in the Astros playoffs fortunes in this pre-game tidbits tweet from Brian McTaggart. The Astros had a .375 playoff winning percentage from 1980 to 2005, and have had a ..576 winning percentage since 2015. Umm, actually it's a .582 winning percentage when you include today's game.
Astros all-time playoff record:
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) October 12, 2021
In the NL: 21-35
In the AL: 38-28
Total: 59-63
As friend of the blog, Eephus Tosser, wrote today, Astros victories in the Division Series now "feels like an inevitability."
I know this isn't going to last forever, but man does it feel good to be at a place in this team's history where the League Championship Series feels like an inevitability. https://t.co/PNEEVvjRBx
— Eephus Tosser (@EephusTosser) October 12, 2021
And despite all the frustrations of the loss on Sunday night, the victory over the White Sox did seem pretty inevitable. The Astros outscored the White Sox 31-18. Their three victories were all by 5 runs or more, and the offense hit for a slash line of .292/.374/.431 for a .805 OPS off White Sox pitchers
The biggest advantage the White Sox seemed to have over the Astros was their bullpen, but the Astros bashed the Chisox pen for 17 runs in 21.2 innings. In a battle of the team that led the American League in runs scored and the one that gave up the fewest runs, the winner was the clearly the offense.
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| The Astros celebrate at "New Commiskey." |
While Astros pitching was not the big story of this series, it made a big contribution to today's victory. Dusty Baker relied on his bullpen to cover 5 innings after pulling Lance McCullers before he went his third time through the order. And the relief corps delivered, allowing 0 walks, and only 2 hits in gobbling up 15 outs.
In short, victory today followed a familiar script for the Astros of the last 4 seasons. They easily won a Division Series and advanced to the next round of the playoffs. This used to seem impossible to us Astros fans. The playoffs seemed an hill too high for the Astros to climb. The baseball gods were against us.
But of course, the baseball gods were not against us. Bad things just happen. Right now, good things just happen. It won't last forever, which is why we should enjoy it now.
Every sports fan know the pain of their team losing in a big game, and squandering a big chance provided to them. As I stewed outside that sports bar in 1999, the bar's manager came out to talk with me. I had been to this bar several times before, so we knew each other a little. And after checking that I was okay, we commiserated on our shared experience of watching our teams fall short of what we wanted.
This is why we should appreciate the bounty that we have as Astros fans. Our team is winning in the playoffs, and have done so for each of the last 5 seasons. It wasn't always like this. It won't always be like this.
This is the golden age of Astros baseball. Enjoy this win, and don't take it for granted.
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