Houston Astros: Top five moments in franchise history

We break down the top five moments in Houston Astros history.

The Houston Astros have played baseball for 55 seasons, plus another three as the Colt .45s. While that’s not quite as much history as many other franchises, it’s still a lot. Plenty of memories, successes, failures, legendary players and heart-stopping moments.

So boiling all that history down to the five best moments in franchise history is no easy task. There are plenty of great names who won’t appear on this list, all-time greats like Nolan Ryan, Jeff Bagwell and Cesar Cedeno. There’s also a rather unlikely name who’ll make a prominent appearance here.

In the end, the single biggest factor in compiling this list is what the moment meant to the fans and the franchise. These are some of the greatest triumphs the team has ever made; some had more drama than others, but all of them are among the first moments that come to mind when you ask any Astros fan what their favorite moment is.

5. Chris Burke‘s 18th inning walkoff

The Astros were holding a 2-1 lead in the 2005 NLDS over their longtime postseason foe, the Atlanta Braves. Game Four wasn’t a must-win, but the team surely did not want to return to Atlanta for a winner-take-all Game Five.

The Astros fell behind 6-1 in the top of the eighth inning. Starter Brandon Backe had given up five runs in 4.1 innings, and reliever Wandy Rodriguez surrendered a solo homer to future Astros catcher Brian McCann in the eighth. Then came the comeback.

Lance Berkman lined a grand slam into the Crawford Boxes in the bottom of the eighth to make it a one-run game. Then with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the unlikely Brad Ausmus homered off Kyle Farnsworth to tie the game at six apiece. Then came the long stalemate as the teams basically played a second full game. Luke Scott nearly ended it at one point, but the ball just went foul.

After manager Phil Garner exhausted his bullpen, he turned to Roger Clemens, who’d lost his start in Game Two. The Rocket entered the game in the 16th inning and continued to keep the Braves off the board for the next three innings. Then came Chris Burke.

With one out in the bottom of the 18th inning, Burke homered to the Crawford Boxes off Braves reliever Joey Devine, sending the Astros to their second consecutive NLCS matchup against the Cardinals. This time, they would go on to defeat the Redbirds and play in their first ever World Series.

4. Mike Scott‘s division-clinching no-no

The 1986 Astros would turn out to be the best team in franchise history up to that point. They’d only claimed one division title previously, which came in 1980. But as the season’s end was drawing near, the team was in a position to clinch the NL West and grab a spot in the playoffs.

On Sept. 25, the club sent ace Mike Scott to the mound against the Giants in the Astrodome with the opportunity to clinch the division title. It was game No. 153 on the season and Scott was in the running for the NL Cy Young Award. What he did that day would essentially clinch that hardware.

Scott authored a no-hitter, walking two batters and plunking one. He struck out 13 that day and would go on to tally 306 strikeouts on the season with 18 wins and a meager 2.22 ERA. He was simply in a zone that year and was the best pitcher on the planet for a period of time.

The Astrodome was pandemonium as Will Clark hit a chopper to first baseman Glenn Davis, who stepped on the bag to end the game. On a pitching staff with Nolan Ryan, Scott was the star at that point.

Even though it would’ve taken a monumental collapse for the Astros to not win the division, there was still pressure. This was the final game of the homestand, as the team would play their next game in Atlanta. Clinching in front of the home fans is something you always want to do if you can.

Unfortunately the Astros would lose the NLCS to the Mets in six games, but Scott was named the series MVP anyway. He outdueled Dwight Gooden in a 1-0 win in Game One, striking out 14 in the shutout. He also threw a complete game to win Game Four by a 3-1 margin. The Mets winning that infamous Game Six in 16 innings was so important simply because Scott would’ve pitched Game Seven, and he was as close to unbeatable as one can get.

2. Craig Biggio‘s 3,000th hit

This could’ve been just any other game in late June. There was no division title or postseason series on the line. The Astros wouldn’t even make the playoffs that year. But this day was the culmination of a 20-year relationship between player and team.

Craig Biggio came into this game with 2,997 career hits, needing three to reach the vaunted 3,000-hit milestone. Reaching it would punch his ticket to the Hall of Fame and cement his status as an all-time great. To do it all in a Houston uniform would make it even more special.

Biggio got his first hit with a single to left-center in the third inning and followed that with an infield single down the third base line in the fifth. Then he stepped to the plate in the seventh and hit a sharp line drive to right-center field for No. 3,000 as he tied the game and sent Minute Maid Park into a frenzy. Bill Brown‘s call of that moment will be forever ingrained in my memory.

The night would get even more special. Biggio added a single in the ninth for his fourth hit, and then started a two-out rally with an infield single in the 11th. With the team trailing 5-4 and down to their last out, the same hustle that Biggio displayed his whole career helped turn the tide.

Hunter Pence followed with a double, and Berkman was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Carlos Lee. El Caballo launched a grand slam to left to win the game, capping off one of the single most incredible games in franchise history.

1. The final out of the 2017 World Series

Could there be any other choice? Astros fans waited decades for this moment, suffering playoff disappointment so many times over the years. The ghosts of 1986, 2005 and even 2015 were exorcised on this night.

Charlie Morton, pitching his fourth inning in relief, got Cody Bellinger to hit a grounder to Altuve. Those brief seconds seemed to slow to a crawl as fans, conditioned to expect defeat after so many heartbreaks, held their collective breath to see if the play would actually be made.

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When Altuve made an accurate throw to Yuli Gurriel at first, it was the culmination of years of work and faith. From the bitter defeats in years past to the utter helplessness and apathy fans felt as their team lost games with record regularity in the early 2010s, the faithful had been rewarded as the team finally climbed the mountain and reached the top after so much had gone into building that team.

There are plenty of moments in this World Series that could’ve qualified for this list. Marwin Gonzalez‘s game-tying ninth inning homer in Game Two off Kenley Jansen helped turn the tide and prevent the team from falling behind 2-0 in the series. Alex Bregman‘s walk-off single in Game Five gave the team a much-needed 3-2 lead with the series about to head back to Los Angeles.

But there’s nothing like that final out. Nothing like finally being able to say your team is a World Series champion. Hopefully there will be more moments like that in the future, but for now, it’s one of a kind and undoubtedly the greatest moment in Astros history.