| 2019 Houston Astros | ||
|---|---|---|
| American League Champions American League West Champions | ||
 | ||
| League | American League | |
| Division | West | |
| Ballpark | Minute Maid Park | |
| City | Houston, Texas | |
| Record | 107–55 (.660) | |
| Divisional place | 1st | |
| Owners | Jim Crane | |
| General managers | Jeff Luhnow | |
| Managers | A. J. Hinch | |
| Television | AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Todd Kalas, Geoff Blum) | |
| Radio | Sportstalk 790 KTRH 740 (weekday night games) Houston Astros Radio Network (Robert Ford, Steve Sparks, Geoff Blum) KLAT (Spanish) (Francisco Romero, Alex Treviño) | |
| Stats | ESPN.com Baseball Reference | |
| ||
The 2019 Houston Astros season was the 58th season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise in Houston, Texas, their 55th as the Astros, seventh in both the American League and American League West, and 20th at Minute Maid Park.
The Houston Astros announced after last season that their weekly night games will air on KTRH 740.[1]
On September 18, the Astros clinched a postseason berth against the Texas Rangers and became the first team since the 2002–2004 New York Yankees to have three consecutive 100-win seasons, having done so in 2017 and 2018 as well. On September 22, the Astros clinched their third straight AL West title. For the first time in franchise history, the Astros finished the season with the best record in baseball and defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS by a margin of three games to two. They then defeated the New York Yankees in the ALCS by a margin of four games to two, winning the pennant and a trip to the World Series for the second time in three years. However, they were defeated by the Washington Nationals in seven games in the World Series.
Despite the World Series upset, this Astros team is still considered to have put together one of the best regular seasons, and most talented rosters, in the history of baseball, owing largely to its historic 107-win campaign, earning the biggest share of season-end accolades, and record-breaking individual stats.[2][3]
Following the season, the Astros led the league with a record six players selected to 2019's inaugural All-MLB Team. Earlier in the year, they also once again sent six players (a franchise record four of whom were starters) to the 2019 All-Star Game, the most from any team in baseball. When including All-Star ace Zack Greinke, who was traded from Arizona to Houston at the July trade deadline, this iteration of the Astros had an eye-popping total of seven 2019 All-Stars on its postseason squad, among the most in baseball history. As such, the 2019 Astros are often regarded as one of the greatest baseball teams ever assembled.
Justin Verlander, having led the MLB in wins, went on to clinch his second American League Cy Young Award after an all-time historically dominant season alongside strikeout and ERA leader Gerrit Cole. Yordan Alvarez also won Rookie of the Year after a history-making season, while Alex Bregman finished as a runner-up for the AL MVP.
This was the Astros' final season with A. J. Hinch as manager and Jeff Luhnow as general manager; both were fired in January 2020 after MLB investigators confirmed that the team had used electronics to steal opponents’ signs back in the 2017 regular season.
- ^ "Astros' radio changes likely to be boon for fans". Retrieved April 1, 2019.
- ^ Miller, Scott (October 22, 2019). "'The Greatest Team I've Ever Seen': Astros Playing for History in World Series". Bleacher Report. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
- ^ Putnal, Justin (September 19, 2019). "Are your 2019 Astros the best team of all-time on paper?". FanSided. Retrieved February 22, 2021.