Houston Astros: Top five moments 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.