TEAM HISTORY
The Astros compete in the MLB as a member club of the AL West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after spending their first 51 seasons in the National League (NL).
The Astros were established as the Houston Colt .45s and entered the National League as an expansion team in 1962 along with the New York Mets. The current name, reflecting Houston's role as the host of the Johnson Space Center, was adopted three years later, when they moved into the Astrodome, the first domed sports stadium and the so-called "Eighth Wonder of the World." The Astros moved to a new stadium called Minute Maid Park in 2000.
The Astros played in the NL West division from 1969 to 1993, then the NL Central division from 1994 to 2012, before being moved to the AL West as part of a minor realignment in 2013.
The Astros posted their first winning record in 1972 and made the playoffs for the first time in 1980. After many years of coming up short in the postseason, the Astros finally made their first World Series appearance in 2005 as an NL team, only to be swept by the Chicago White Sox. In the following decade, the team embraced sabermetrics and pioneered new analytical technologies during the early 2010s, transforming from a franchise that lost more than 100 games in three consecutive seasons into a star-studded superteam that won over 100 games in three straight seasons. The Astros won the 2017 World Series, their first championship, against the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Having been defeated by Boston the following year in the 2018 ALCS, the Astros returned to the World Series in 2019, losing to the Washington Nationals in seven games despite putting together a franchise-best regular season.
During the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the Astros again qualified for the playoffs (this time with a losing record), making a run for their fourth consecutive American League Championship Series appearance after having beaten the Minnesota Twins and division rival Oakland Athletics. However, despite becoming just the second team in the history of baseball to rebound from an 0–3 series deficit, the Astros ultimately fell to the Tampa Bay Rays after seven historically tight games in the ALCS.
By the time of the break for the 2021 MLB All-Star Game, the Astros were 55–36 and contending for a top spot in the postseason, complete with four All-Star selections in Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Michael Brantley, and Ryan Pressly. On September 30, the Astros clinched their fourth AL West title in the span of five seasons (which was the first time they had won four division titles in five seasons since the 1998–2001 teams); the six playoff appearances in seven seasons is the best span in franchise history. Yuli Gurriel became the second Astro to win the batting title, doing so at the age of 37 with a batting average of .319. The Astros beat the Chicago White Sox in the American League Division Series to advance to their fifth consecutive ALCS, a feat matched by only two teams in LCS history and the first since the Atlanta Braves of the 1990s (having made all eight contested NLCS from 1991 to 1999). Upon playing together in Game 3 of the 2021 American League Championship Series, Altuve, Correa, Gurriel, and Bregman set a new record for most games played together by four teammates at any position in MLB history, with that game being the 64th between the core four. On October 22, the Astros prevailed 5-0 in Game 6 over the Boston Red Sox to win their third pennant in the last five seasons. They went on to lose the 2021 World Series to the Atlanta Braves in six games.
In 2022, the Astros swept the New York Yankees in the ALCS to advance to the World Series. On November 2, 2022, in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies at the Citizens Bank Park, the Astros became the first team to throw a combined no-hitter in postseason history, and the second team to throw a no-hitter in World Series history after Don Larsen's perfect game with the New York Yankees in 1956. The Astros went on to defeat the Phillies in six games, earning their second World Series title. Jeremy Peña won the Series MVP Award; the first rookie position player in MLB history to do so, and the first rookie shortstop in history to hit a home run in the World Series.
