Ranking the Astros “Golden Era” Teams

With the impending departure of yet another member of the Houston Astros’ “Golden Era” in shortstop Carlos Correa, it’s hard to not see the writing on the wall that sooner rather than later the greatest stretch in Houston sports history since the “Clutch City” Rockets is running out of time.

The Houston Astros’ “Golden Era” may be coming to an end.

With the signing of Justin Verlander and the emergence of Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker as perennial threats at the plate, the Astros have extended their window of contention.

But the emergence of the Seattle Mariners along with a healthy Los Angeles Angles lineup featuring Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon, not to mention the consistently competitive Oakland A’s and the free spending high money additions the Texas Rangers just made, the division crown is no longer a foregone conclusion for a team that has been so division dominant in the past five years.

Not discounting the Astros ability to remain competitive in the near or even prolonged future, but the faces of the team will have changed considerably as Verlander is 39-years-old on a one-year contract (with a player option for second year), Yuli Gurriel is 37-years-old on the final year of his contract, leaving only Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman as the remaining core that won a World Series signed past 2023.

While the next generation of Astros could begin their own dominant run, let’s rank the best Astro teams from 2017-2021. These rankings are based strictly on pure talent. Basically if you could start a season with the final rosters from each year and the players at the stages in their career they were at, which team would you most trust to secure a World Series win this season.