2005 Houston Astros
Today, the Houston Astros are viewed in a negative light by fans of the 29 other teams. Their 2017 cheating scandal looms heavily over the franchise, and it doesn't help that the cheating didn't stop with trash cans, nor did it stop in just 2017. As a result, all their accomplishments are tainted, even by association. The 2017 title is viewed with an eyeroll. Their 2019 pennant is hand waved away. Heck, even their 2022 title is looked at with heavy amounts of skepticism. All this being said, there was one accomplishment the team can lay claim to that is free from scrutiny.
If you ask someone to name a major rivalry from the early 2000s that wasn't same city or the Yankees-Red Sox, and I'm willing to bet they'd need a minute or two to think. Eventually, they'll list some notable face offs like the Mets-Braves or Cubs-Cardinals, but there's a reason that the Yankees-Red Sox duals were so intense; besides history, they were always in a fist fight for the pennant. Between 1999 and 2004, those two met three times in the ALCS with everything on the line. The same could be said for the Astros vs the Braves and Cardinals in that very same era.
The Astros won the NL Central division from 1997-1999 and 2001. Three of those four seasons they ran into the teeth of the Atlanta Braves (and 1998 vs the Padres). Every time they got bounced in the Division Series. Against the Braves, they went a dismal 1-9. And if you count their three previous playoff runs in the 80's, the Astros franchise still had never won a playoff series in 7 attempts. But 2004 was different, as they made the playoffs as a Wild Card team, and took the (yet again) Braves to the Game 5 limit and finally stood tall to advance. The team meeting them in the NLCS, however, were the division winning Cardinals. The Astros and their "Killer Bs" of Bagwell, Berkman, Biggio and Beltran took a 3-2 series lead back to St. Louis where the Cardinals rallied back and stunned Houston to clinch the pennant.
The championship window was beginning to close on Houston in 2005. The face of the franchise Jeff Bagwell battled injury and was severely limited in what would be the final season of his Hall of Fame career. Phil Garner, who had taken over halfway through 2004 to lead them to the NLCS, was back for the full season as the Astros pulled off a 89-73 record; 11 games behind the Cardinals but good enough to clinch the Wild Card for the 2nd straight year.
Once again meeting the Astros in the NLDS were the all too familiar foes that were the Braves. It helped that the Houston rotation included Pettite and Clemens of the Yankee dynasty days to help counter the Braves pitching and advance to the NLCS in four games. Yet another familiar foe was waiting with the defending NL champion and current NL Central winners in St. Louis. After dropping Game 1, Roy Oswalt took the ball and put the Cardinals in check. Oswalt took the hill again in Game 6 with a 3-2 series lead to shut down the opposition, lock up the NLCS MVP and send the Astros to their first World Series.
The good times had to end for Houston, sadly. In the World Series to face the Astros were the Chicago White Sox, in their first WS in almost 50 years. Each game was played incredibly close; Game 2 was tied going into the bottom of the 9th, Game 3 went to 14 innings and Game 4 was 0-0 through 7 innings. Despite being so close, the Astros ultimately dropped every game and were swept out in 4 games.
It would turn out to be the final postseason run for the Astros as members of the National League, and the closest they'd get to a championship without cheating.
