Liftoff!: The Tank, the Storm, and the Astros' Improbable Ascent to Baseball Immortality

This book is dedicated to my wife and parents

Contents

Author’s Note

Timeline—Countdown to Liftoff

1. Here We Go

2. This City Deserves Our Best

3. Saving Our Powder

4. The Underdog All Year

5. We’re a [Freaking] Playoff Team!

6. Getting Into Our Window

7. Opening Day Next Year

8. When the Star Goes Up

9. People Are Just Wooing

10. It Will Bring Hope

11. You Don’t Even Know, Man

12. I Got To Wake Up

13. Bring Your Earplugs

14. He Put Us On His Back

15. If You Like October Baseball

16. It’s Your Time

17. Forever Special

18. Anything Is Possible

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Photo Gallery

Author’s Note

We never lost perspective of what was important. I saw these guys at the community center.…I saw these guys do good deeds for people as they start to rebuild the city. And I think that’s why the city fell in love with this team all over again, and why we had that Houston Strong strength that carried us a long way.

—Astros manager A.J. Hinch

They were the worst team in baseball. Not even worth watching. As bad as anything the city had ever seen and one of the biggest embarrassments in the history of major league baseball.

They became the best team in baseball. Instantly and constantly addicting. Loaded with names, faces, and stories people loved. True winners in a city that needed new hope. World champions during a year when it felt like everything was suddenly falling apart.

José Altuve.

George Springer.

Carlos Correa.

Justin Verlander, Dallas Keuchel, Alex Bregman, and A.J. Hinch.

Jeff Luhnow, the architect of it all. Jim Crane, who went from the most-loathed owner in Houston’s thriving pro sports scene to the man venerated for the construction of a World Series winner in just six years. For a while, those years felt like decades. For Houston, the wait from 1962 to 2017 almost felt like forever.

Then you throw in the chaos and destruction of Hurricane Harvey; the depressing, lonely, 100-loss seasons when the Lastros were the annual laughingstock of MLB; all the names and faces that just kept changing and changing and changing…all in the name of a rebuild that took years just to reach rock bottom. The painful collapse in Game 4 of the 2015 American League Division Series against the eventual world-champion Kansas City Royals. The fact that, when the reconstructed Astros finally did make their first real moves at the trade deadline, they really did not get any better. And then when everyone knew they were maybe just a few names away two years later, the team waited until absolutely the last minute to finally wrap Verlander in orange and blue.

So when it all came together after waiting 56 years? Of course, it felt and looked like brilliant, perfect magic.

I am typing this three months later and I still find myself struggling to believe it. 

All the T-shirts that you still see everywhere say, World Champions. The hats, stickers, photos, and newspaper reprints—and everything else that displays lasting, indisputable proof of the winners of the 2017 World Series—now woven into this winning city.

But then I randomly think back to some forgotten name or horrendous game from the 111-loss 2013 team, and I have another one of those moments. The rebuild was real—massive and unforgiving. The tear-down. The reconstruction. Blowing it all up, digging down so deep, betting everything on proving almost everyone wrong…and then taking Mark Appel over Kris Bryant during the same year they lost 111 games.

Those Astros really won the World Series? 

They sure as heck did.

Because of Altuve, Springer, Correa, Verlander, Keuchel, and Bregman. Because Hinch was the perfect fit and voice from day one. Because the plan kept evolving, Luhnow kept adapting, Crane stepped up when he had to, and the Astros really were as smart and forward-thinking as they acted.

But, really, it all came down to heart, personal drive, and natural talent that just kept being refined. And for all the numbers, statistics, projections, advanced analytics, defensive shifts, and everything else that has absolutely altered the grand old game, the 2017 Astros were also the best team in baseball—with an emphasis on team.

They loved to play baseball. So much that they refused to stop. From early February in sunny West Palm Beach, Florida, to November 1 in the glowing, electric Los Angeles night at Dodger Stadium, when a relentless team that was still ahead of schedule ended the season of the highest-priced club in the game.

The rebuilt Astros were simply better—and more fun.

Altuve playing his heart out, proudly covered in dirt. Springer refusing to fail, then not believing what he was seeing. Bregman acting like a 23-year-old but playing like he was 30. Verlander and Keuchel challenging everyone around them to keep fighting, after both had already placed the team on their backs. Hinch always so calm and cool, but also fueled by a fire that guided his Astros to a final stage reserved only for champions.

They took a wrecking ball to it all and said that maybe one day there would be a trophy. No promises, because that is just how baseball goes. Then they built a team that won your hearts, honored a recovering city, and will last as long as baseball does.

From 111 losses to 101 wins. Through the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Into your lives forever.

The once horrible, then amazing, Houston Astros.

Liftoff.

Timeline—Countdown to Liftoff

July 20, 2011: José Altuve makes his major league debut at Minute Maid Park, going 1-for-5 as the Astros fall to 33–65.

September 28, 2011: Six years after Houston appears in its first World Series—a 4-0 defeat to the Chicago White Sox—the Astros finish 56–106, worst in major league baseball.

November 17, 2011: MLB approves Jim Crane’s purchase of the Astros. With the sale, Houston is set to move to the American League.

December 7, 2011: The Astros hire Jeff Luhnow as general manager. He begins an unprecedented organizational rebuild.

June 4, 2012: The Astros select shortstop Carlos Correa with the No. 1 overall pick in MLB’s amateur draft. Pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. is later taken at No. 41.

August 18, 2012: Houston fires manager Brad Mills. The Astros finish 55–107 and are again the worst team in baseball.

September 27, 2012: Bo Porter, then third-base coach for the Washington Nationals, is hired as Houston’s new manager.

March 31, 2013: The Astros beat the Texas Rangers 8–2 at Minute Maid Park in their AL debut. The Opening Day victory is the only time all season the Astros are above .500.

June 6, 2013: The Astros select pitcher Mark Appel with the No. 1 pick in the draft. The Chicago Cubs take third baseman Kris Bryant at No. 2.

July 14, 2013: Houston enters the All-Star break at 33–61. The team’s active payroll soon drops below $15 million.

September 29, 2013: The Astros lose 15 straight games to end the season, amassing a franchise- record 111 losses with only 51 wins. Houston has the worst record in MLB for the third year in a row.

April 16, 2014: Outfielder George Springer, the No. 11 pick of the 2011 draft, makes his major league debut for the Astros.

September 1, 2014: On the way to a 70–92 record, a fourth-place finish in the AL West, and sixth straight losing season, the Astros fire Porter. He finishes with a 110–190 mark in Houston.

September 28, 2014: Altuve wins his first MLB batting crown, hitting .341 for the season.

September 29, 2014: A.J. Hinch is named the Astros’ new manager.

April 30, 2015: Houston goes 15–7 during its first month under Hinch. The Astros reach 34–20 in early June before a seven-game losing streak.

June 8, 2015: Correa makes his major league debut for the Astros. On the same day, Houston selects infielder Alex Bregman with the No. 2 pick in the draft. (McCullers debuted on May 18.)

October 4, 2015: Despite going 11–16 in September and losing their final game of the regular season, the Astros clinch their first postseason appearance in a decade during Game 162. Houston finishes 86–76 in its first season under Hinch, two games behind the Rangers for first place in the AL West.

October 12, 2015: After beating New York 3–0 in a wild-card game at Yankee Stadium, the Astros hold a 2–1 AL Division Series lead against Kansas City and are up 6–2 as the eighth inning begins during Game 4 at Minute Maid Park. The Royals score five runs in the eighth and win 9–6. The eventual World Series champion Royals close out the ALDS with a 7–2 win in Kansas City two days later, ending the Astros’ season.

November 16, 2015: Correa wins the AL Rookie of the Year award. Dallas Keuchel is honored with the AL Cy Young Award two days later.

May 22, 2016: A backward 7–17 start turns into a 17–28 beginning, following a three-game sweep by the Rangers. Despite going 35–20 combined during May and June, the Astros never fully recover from their early-season hole

October 2, 2016: The Rangers win the AL West for the second consecutive season, buoyed by key midseason trades. The Astros finish 84–78 during their second year under Hinch, just two games off their 2015 mark, but third place in the division and out of the playoffs.

December 5, 2016: Carlos Beltran, a postseason hero for the 2004 Astros and trade-deadline acquisition for the 2016 Rangers, agrees to a one-year deal with Houston. The Beltran signing follows a trade for Brian McCann and long-term deal for Josh Reddick, as the Astros add respected veterans to a deepened lineup.

June 1, 2017: A 16–9 April is followed by a 22–7 May. The Astros begin 2017 as the best team in baseball and hold an 11¹/2-game lead in the AL West.

July 11, 2017: Houston sends a team-record six players to the All-Star Game: Altuve, Chris Devenski, Keuchel, McCullers, Correa, and Springer. Five were drafted or initially signed by the Astros.

August 31, 2017: Houston acquires veteran right-hander Justin Verlander from the Detroit Tigers minutes before MLB’s final trade deadline expires.

September 2, 2017: The Astros play a home game in Houston for the first time since Hurricane Harvey, sweeping the New York Mets in a doubleheader at Minute Maid Park.

September 17, 2017: Verlander strikes out 10 and only allows one run during seven innings against Seattle. The Astros win the American League West before their home crowd, four seasons after switching leagues and moving to the AL.

October 21, 2017: After beating the Boston Red Sox 3–1 in the AL Division Series, the Astros fight off two elimination games to down the Yankees 4–3 in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series and win the pennant.

November 1, 2017: The Astros defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5–1 in Game 7 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium to take the series 4–3. Springer is named World Series MVP.

March 19, 2018: Altuve, the 2017 AL MVP, signs a five-year, $151 million contract extension with the Astros. It is the largest contract in team history.

1. Here We Go

It’s a crazy journey, man. But I think I was the only one in 2011, ’12, and ’13, those hundred losses, three years in a row. It’s not easy. But I kind of believed in the process. I believed in what Jeff Luhnow and Jim Crane used to talk to me, Hey, we’re going to be good. We’re going to be good. Then, okay, let me keep working hard. Let me get better every year and try to be part of the winning team.

—Astros second baseman José Altuve

It is 2015, and they are tired of losing.

Two managers have been fired. A team president has departed. Names are going to keep revolving, but a few players are actually going to stick around in Houston, and one of them wants more than this.

Losing. Losing. Losing.

Enough.

José Altuve enters the office of the Astros’ new manager. Altuve was never supposed to make it in major league baseball. Now he’s one of the best hitters in the game. In three seasons, he will hit three home runs in a single playoff game, win the American League MVP award, and cement himself as the franchise face of a World Series winner. But in 2015? Altuve only wants to do the one thing he has never done in the majors: win.

The manager who will soon become so close with and trusted by his players—who will guide the Astros to 101 victories and through two playoff Game 7s; loudest vote in the clubhouse, calmest heartbeat in the dugout—listens and immediately gets it.

A.J. Hinch came to Houston to win. He became the Astros’ next manager because the team had to stop losing. What Altuve has been feeling, Hinch already is, too. And soon the new manager will show the whole team the Astros’ new world order. When I got here no one talked about winning, Hinch said. And that was one of the first things that Altuve told me in my office, that he wanted to win. And that represented what the next step was for this organization.

It is 2017, just four years after the worst team in franchise history went 51–111. An unprecedented rebuild peaks in Game 7 of the World Series, during a Fall Classic that instantly becomes one of the best in the sport’s history. 

Justin Verlander wanted to join the Astros. The Boston Red Sox have fallen, the New York Yankees went down, and the Los Angeles Dodgers could not match the Astros’ heart.

Houston’s baseball team is saturated with young stars who will still be around the next season—the free-agency blues have not set in yet. The Astros now spend enough money to play the big game, but are also set up for years, and prime talent is still flowing through the pipeline. Many MLB clubs would do anything just to have Altuve in uniform. The Astros have Carlos Correa, George Springer, Alex Bregman, Altuve, and more.

Houston is a baseball town again. Minute Maid Park has roared. And two winners share the same stage inside Dodger Stadium, answering constant questions about what it all feels like.

I always believed that we’re going to become good, Altuve said. Then I saw Springer get drafted, Correa and Bregman, and I was like, ‘Okay, here we go.’

They were going to win more than they ever had before. 

But first the Astros had to lose. A lot.

2. This City Deserves Our Best

We laid the foundation. And it takes years to lay the right foundation. It’s like building a house. You want to make sure…that your foundation isn’t cracked. That you’ve got the right foundation, so that as you build on top of it, you can sustain a lot of growth on top of it. And that’s really what we’re doing at all the levels.

—Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow

There would be much brighter days. There would also be dates that would come to define the rebuilt Astros—months, numbers, and years that proudly became part of franchise history.

April 16, 2014: George Springer makes his major league baseball debut. 

October 4, 2015: Led by manager A.J. Hinch, the Astros make the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

July 25, 2016: Alex Bregman debuts.

August 31, 2017: Justin Verlander is traded to the Astros.

November 1, 2017: The Houston Astros win their first World Series, beating Los Angeles in Game 7 at Dodger Stadium.

But December 7, 2011, was the start of it all. It was when the full reconstruction began. New owner Jim Crane placed the Astros in Jeff Luhnow’s hands, hiring the former vice president of scouting and player development for the St. Louis Cardinals and naming Luhnow as Houston’s new general manager. Since 2003 Luhnow had risen through the Cardinals organization. In 2011 one of baseball’s most storied franchises had won the World Series again, downing the Texas Rangers in a seven-game series. An Astros tear-down that began under former GM Ed Wade—who was fired, along with team president Tal Smith, on November 27, 2011—would now begin in full under Luhnow.

As the Astros slid through the post–Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell era, below .500 seasons piled up and the farm system dried up. The franchise had not made the playoffs since its first-ever World Series run in 2005, and it required the team trading away its remaining stars (Roy Oswalt, Lance Berkman, Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn) for Astros fans to even begin to see a murky future. Still, the minor leagues were not barren: Springer, the 2017 World Series MVP, was taken No. 11 overall in the 2011 MLB amateur draft. José Altuve, the 2017 American League MVP, had made his major league debut on July 20, 2011, and 2015 AL Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel had been taken in the seventh round of the 2009 draft.

The Astros went 56–106 in 2011 under manager Brad Mills. Their final game was an 8–0 home loss to the Cardinals before 24,358 fans at Minute Maid Park. The 1–9 names: J.B. Shuck, Altuve, J.D. Martinez (who would hit 45 home runs in 2017 and receive a $110 million contract from the Boston Red Sox in 2018), Carlos Lee, Brian Bogusevic, Jimmy Paredes, Clint Barmes, Humberto Quintero, and Brett Myers. Not exactly world beaters.

The team went 55–107 during Luhnow’s first year, as Mills was fired, Lee was traded, and the names kept coming and going. But by October 2012, the GM believed he was watching a plan slowly come together, while outside critics thought they were only witnessing destruction.

How would Luhnow fix Houston’s broken baseball team? Was it truly possible to revive and rebuild the Astros? How do you turn 213 losses in two seasons into a clubhouse loaded with consistent winners and a youth movement that long-frustrated fans wanted to buy into?

Of course, Luhnow had a vision. A team that was part Moneyball Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays, part big-city Los Angeles Dodgers and Rangers. A club that grew internally and developed its own talent, but could also spend big money when it needed to.

During the early years, the Astros’ propensity for losing games was only rivaled by the franchise’s intent on cleaning house. Familiar names were gone. New uniforms containing throwback colors and images were unveiled. Minute Maid Park was upgraded. Most importantly, as the Astros’ major league roster hit financial and statistical rock bottom, a once-depleted farm system was being restocked.

An unprecedented rebuild was fully underway.

We’d like to [watch] it go as fast as it can without making promises on any time frame, Luhnow said in October 2012. This city deserves a baseball team that they’re not only proud of, they’re excited to come to the ballpark and watch. And I don’t think we’re that far away from being able to deliver.

Gradually torn down and remade, the Astros began emphasizing improved player promotion guidelines—only promoting a prospect when his play and development merited reward—while deepening the international talent pipeline and reconfiguring roles and departments. Minor league affiliates were streamlined, and winning was emphasized there first. By the time a young athlete arrived in the majors, they would be used to daily victories and winning the right way. 

One of the things that we’re doing here—and I think we’re going to do exceptionally well—is linking everything together so there are no [breaks]. The guy who runs international feels like he’s connected to the front office, Luhnow said. Everybody has their area of expertise. But the more we can be sharing experiences and collaborating on things, I think the more we can be better as a team.

But how long would the rebuild take? Two years? Five? What if the blueprint failed, and the Astros—the worst team in baseball for two consecutive seasons—became the next Pittsburgh Pirates, reaching a hard ceiling, then tearing it down and rebuilding all over again?

You compare our roster to the Rangers’, we’re not there yet. But will we be in five years? I hope so. Will our payroll be up in the range where it can compete with the Rangers? I hope so, Luhnow said. But for now, we’re not even close. So we know we have our work cut out for us. I think what’ll be fun for our fans is to experience the cycle on the way up. Our fans have gone through the painful experience of the cycle on the way down, from the World Series in 2005 to basically two 100-loss seasons in a row. This is as far down as it goes. From here, going forward, it goes up.

To slowly build upward, the Astros drastically changed almost everything. Players, staffs, scouts, TV faces, and radio voices, longtime employees…the team colors, logos, and even the mascot. By 2015 Minute Maid Park would feel like a completely new place, and the on-field product would be worlds beyond the 2012 team. But Luhnow also relied on several key, lasting names—Mike Elias, Kevin Goldstein, Sig Mejdal, Oz Ocampo, Mike Fast—within the franchise’s remade baseball operations side. Hires