Houston’s golden age of baseball: The Astros are two-time World Series Champions!’

Your Houston Astros are showing they are world serious and World champs for the second time and the city is absolutely electric.

Redemption, forgiveness, atonement and “something to prove.” These are the words the sports media outlets and shows (all of which are conveniently located in New York and Los Angeles) would like to attach to this victory but the real word for this win is validation.

This second World Series title in only six years is the validation to all nay-sayers and haters that would rather throw hateful words and emotions toward the Houston Astros than realize how talented this team is and give credit to their work ethic. While the MLB found many teams to be using outside means to their advantage in 2017-20 only one team was left to be the scapegoat, and only one team had a single member come out and tarnish themselves, their reputation to the point they no longer play in MLB. The team and the entire organization have had five years of success and October post-season baseball to prove how talented this team is top to bottom and how Houston will be a problem for years to come in the American League. I challenge any doubters to show me a team with the same track record, in the same number of years, that also lost and had to replace major pieces of their team yet continued to show non-stop excellence. Despite all adversity faced both physically that comes with each 165-game season (not including playoffs) and mentally due to regular day-to-day stresses, sports media doubters, class-less fan bases and rowdy-hostile crowds at almost every away game.

In their 60th anniversary season as a Major league team the Houston Astros 2022 postseason played out more like a Hollywood movie than real life. Every series was almost a continuous fever dream with the Astros coming off a 106 win regular season (2^nd highest in team history) that led into a walk-off win, an 18-inning game, then a shutout in the Bronx that led to two back-to-back sweeps, the first combined no-hitter in the World Series, the first rookie to get a home run in the World Series, a first world series pitching win for a future Hall of Fame pitcher Justin Verlander, a historic biggest payout in sports betting history of $75 million dollars and finally the first managerial World Series Championship for the legendary Mimsbandz wearing Dusty Baker a figure more myth than man.

The moments that followed felt like it was written for a movie; how could two fan bases go out of their way to antagonize and fuel a sport that’s filled with superstitious people then by chanting “We want Houston!” in a derogatory fashion not once but twice and if there was a lesson to be learned it should be don’t jinx yourself or your team and remember hate begets hate and If you have hate in your heart, let it out. I believe Catcher Martin Maldonado said it best and gave them Houston as requested and the team even had a great callback to these moments during our 2022 World Series Championship parade that is sure to go down in Houston history.

With news of Philadelphia restaurants refusing to serve patrons with Houston ID’s or those wearing Astros gear pouring out, it became clear that this was more than just about baseball, but fans of this Houston team knew that going in. The city and this team have been battle worn & tested and fear nothing. Despite how Philadelphia behaved towards fans and local legend Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale he still showed southern hospitality by gifting his Thursday night Texans v. Eagles tickets to Philadelphia fans in Houston, a classy move after facing such a rude fanbase. It was only the seventh time in history two cities teams played each other on the same night. It was also the same night the Astros would ace pitcher Justin Verlander his first World Series win in game 5, and featured Centerfielder Chas McCormick’s leaping catch that stole the souls of many Phillies players that night leading to a ‘forever moment’ in Astros history as well, the imprint on the outfield dirt that would be arguably one of the greatest catch pictures in baseball history. Sadly for Philadelphia, the city picked him up and he became a symbol that night that led to an iconic image that will also always be associated with this 2022 World Series ring. Why was he so upset, he was sticking up for the giant-killer Jose Altuve (who had 5 runs, 8 hits, with an on-base percentage(OBP) of .333 this World Series) the heart of this team, that has been with us in through 100 loss seasons where they couldn’t get rid of tickets to now where almost every home game is sold out and filled with fans wearing number #27’s jersey that will one day be hung up in the Minute Maid Park rafters as a member of the Houston Astros Hall of Fame and MLB’s Hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York.

The entire team showed they were built for the postseason and that they were truly October proven as every member of the team had an individual moment but there were some that just were astronomical. First is the now 2,000+ game-winning manager, dedicated lifelong James Mims Mimsbandz wristband wearer, the toothpick chewing future Hall of Famer Johnnie B. “Dusty” Baker Jr., who has spent over 50 years in professional baseball (242 home runs with a .240 batting average), played with the likes of Hank Aaron, won a World Series (1981) himself as an outfielder, is also credited with being a part of the first high-five in history in 1977 after hitting his 30^th homerun that season. He also held this team together through the toughest of atmospheres for the past three years to overcome the greatest of hurdles, for both himself as a manager and this team that was hungry to get the sports writers and media off their backs and to change the storyline narratives from one of constant negativity to talks of dynasties. When Baker made his managerial debut in 1993 for San Francisco Giants I’m sure he had no inkling or clue that one day the lead-off hitter for the opposite team that day, Cardinals second baseman Geronimo Pena (an excellent player during his own career with 30 home runs and a batting average of .262) would one day be the father to the rookie shortstop that would be an integral part of his first World Series Championship as a manager. With this win, Baker becomes the oldest manager to ever win a World Series at 73 years young and only the third African-American manager to ever lead a team to win the Commissioners trophy also known as the MLB’s World Series Trophy.

Rookie shortstop Jeremy Pena nicknamed “La Tormenta” or “The Storm” by his father, had an amazing regular season that even saw his parents witnessing his 1st professional homerun and a fantastic World Series with 5 runs, 10 hits and an OBP of .423. He has also brought nothing but storm clouds to every fan base hoping to boo him into submission and thunderous hits to those who doubted his talent. When he was asked to step up and fill the spot left by outgoing Carlos Correa he not only exceeded expectations but carved his own name into history being the first rookie shortstop to win a Gold Glove award, and was named both an American League Championship series MVP and a World Series MVP. The first American League player to earn both awards in the same year, and youngest World Series MVP at 25. Needless to say, the last award he is worried about is rookie of the year now. To top it all off it was only fitting Pena’s walkout music was Nelly’s ‘Grillz’ this postseason because now he has been fitted and is now waiting on an actual World Series grill from Houston’s own “King of Bling” Johnny Dang who said he would outfit the entire team with grillz after bringing home the championship.

Leftfielder Yordan Alvarez’s power was on full display this postseason as it began with his monstrous walk-off homerun against the Seattle Mariners to win game one of the American League Division series and finished the postseason off by absolutely obliterating a baseball in game six with a 3-run homer against the Phillies with a homerun he hit dead center at Minute Maid Park flying well over 450 ft. In only his third year with the team he is putting up numbers and moments like that of David “Big Papi” Ortiz (3x World Series Champion and a class of 2022 Hall of Famer) becoming a household name in Houston and the world.

The 2022 team had no weak links with every player stepping up when their moment arose it was a show of excellence all around by the entire team. A true show of how dominant the pitching was on this team with starting pitcher Framber Valdez becoming legendary in his and my favorite navy alternate “tequila sunrise ribbed” jerseys, closer Ryan Pressley allowing no-earned runs throughout the American League Championship series and the World Series and being a part of the first combined no-hitter in World Series history that was led by the untouchable pitching of Cristian Javier (who threw another combined no-hitter early this regular season beating the Yankees 3-0 in June) with the help of relief pitchers Bryan Abreu and Rafael Montero. Offensively the entire team top to bottom came in clutch and all have earned their rings and their part in this legacy of Houston’s golden age of baseball.

The World Series parade was a true show of Houston’s love and pride for the team and their city as a whole, with many camping out the night before and nearly 2 million attending, many schools canceling class for the day and even more adults skipping work all together for the championship parade that even included a second parking garage hat-toss by fans. It was an excellent show of how this city can come together in a time that can be hectic and divisive we can still come together regardless of race, religion, or politics to come together to support a team bringing excellence back to a city hungry for winning again. The Houston Astros have been a rock and a solid fixture for a city that is slowly becoming more and more of a baseball town over time.

This team exemplifies everything good about this city from its diversity and work ethic, not since the Houston Rockets won back-to-back championships (1994-95) has this city seen such dominance. Now we are officially being renamed ‘Twoston, Texas’ again twenty-seven years later and Paul Wall has the whole southeast singing ‘How about them Stros’! So always remember, remember, the fifth of November for it was the second time in six years, your Houston Astros became World Series Champions; and the city is covered in blue, orange, and gold all over!