Comparing 2022 Houston Astros to other Golden Era teams

The Houston Astros are on the verge of clinching the best record in the American League for the first time since their franchise record 107 win season in 2019. And while they may not reach that win total, they have surpassed 100 wins for the fourth time in what is considered the Golden Era of Astros baseball.

Where do the 2022 Houston Astros rank compared to all the great teams from 2017-2021?

This iteration of the Astros Golden Era teams is unique compared to any other team as offensively this is their worst season in that five year span. It’s also arguably the best pitching the team has had in that span which is truly incredible considering the 2019 team had Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole finish one and two in Cy Young Voting.

But as a whole this is the strongest pitching the team has had not just in the Golden Era but arguably ever. The best rotations of Astros baseball have to be 2019, 2018, 1986 and 1981.

This one seems to top them all due to its depth and the fact that the bullpen is just as good as the starting rotation.

The up and down offense puts into question whether this team is the greatest Astro team of all time but if they have a 105 win season alongside a World Series title it’ll be hard to argue they’re not the best assortment of Astros ever put together.

So where does this team rank compared to the others from the best era in Astros baseball? We’ll go season by season and compare their numbers head to head.

The rankings will be judged on win totals, where they ended up record wise compared to the rest of the league, runs scored, runs against and of course where they finished the season in the postseason.

Since 2020 was pandemic shortened we’re going to extrapolate to 162 games, though it’ll be hard to assess them fairly given the season being only a third of what it normally is.

Anyhow we’ll go sequentially starting with the 2017 Houston Astros.