Series Preview: Houston Astros All-Time Best Seasons

Houston Astros fans, we here at Climbing Tal’s Hill have taken on an epic project: we have combed through 53 seasons of team data in order to determine which players, at each position, have had an All-Time Best Season.

This took a lot of time and a lot of hand-wringing on our part over which seasons to choose. Sometimes it was easy. Other times it was a judgment call.

Did Craig Biggio make the list at Catcher or Center Field? Lance Berkman at First Base? Art Howe at Second? You’ll have to check back and see.

We also came across names we’ve never heard of, or names that are rarely talked about. You’ll probably be just as surprised as we were that some of these guys make the lists, too.

Starting tomorrow morning, the first installment will come out, “Astros All-Time Best Seasons: Catcher.” The rest of the schedule looks like this:

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• First Base (2/4)
• Second Base (2/6)
• Third Base (2/8)
• Shortstop (2/9)
• Left Field (2/11)
• Center Field (2/13)
• Right Field (2/15)
• Starting Pitchers (2/16)
• Closers (2/18)
• Managers (2/20)

There is one omission: Designated Hitter. As the Houston Astros have only played two seasons with a DH, we decided not to run it. Choosing between two Chris Carter seasons would be like having to pick your favorite ballpark food, but the only options are hot dogs and hot dogs.

We also ran in to one problem: the CTH writers could not decide on one “All-Time Best Season” for each position. So we chose our top five and are leaving the actual decision to a fan vote. It is said that there is nothing more American than voting, baseball, and apple pie. We’ve provided two out of three, you’ll just have to get your own dessert.

To conclude the series, there will be a wrap-up article which presents the fan vote and everyone will get to see who made CTH’s Astros All-Time Best Seasons list.

If you don’t want to miss out on this series (trust us, you don’t), fill out your information in the box below to get notifications in your email inbox.