Houston Astros Win World Series
The Houston Astros won the World Series for the first time since 1986. The team finished the regular season with 100 wins and 119 losses. The team was known as the Astros when they won the National League pennant in 1990, but renamed themselves after the 1997 World Series win.
The winning team was awarded the World Series championship trophy presented to them by then-President George H. W. Bush in the Oval Office of the White House. The Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 6 of the World Series, earning a 2-1 victory over them at Minute Maid Park, and winning their first championship. The Dodgers also had won the World Series in 1986.
Background
Regular season
With both the National League Central and National League pennant races going down to the wire, the Astros entered the season with the best record in baseball, 78-47. With the Astros leading the National League in hits, triples, runs batted in, stolen bases, home runs, and batting average (.274) at the All-Star break, the team was leading the Major League Baseball in all of those categories. The team had a remarkable season, going from a 108-loss team prior to the season to a 96-win team by the All-Star break. The Astros swept both the All-Star Game and the National League Championship Series from the San Francisco Giants without dropping a game in the process.
The Astros went from a 108-loss team to a 96-win team halfway through the season, and an average of 91 wins over the course of the season. The team won their first seven games.
The Astros led the American League in pitching in the second half of the season, and had the fifth-best ERA (.300) in the league. The Astros led their division with an AL-best 19 wins, with a 1.54 ERA, and were the only team to not allow more than 5 runs in any game.
In the last month of the season, the Astros went 25-10, tying the Minnesota Twins for the AL lead in