The Best Houston Astros Seasons and Every October Run
A season-by-season guide to the best Houston Astros teams by record and to every postseason series the club has played, from 1980 through 2024, with the heartbreaks as well as the two World Series titles.
The Houston Astros went their first eighteen seasons without a single postseason game, played their first seven postseason series without winning one, and then, between 2017 and 2023, reached the American League Championship Series seven years in a row. That compression is the whole story of the club's October history: a long wait, a long run of near misses, and then a stretch of dominance that produced two World Series titles and three losses in the Series itself.
This article walks through it in order. It covers the club's best regular seasons by winning percentage, then every postseason series the historical record shows for the franchise, grouped into eras. The figures are the franchise record through the 2025 season; where a season changed the way the club is judged, the article says so plainly rather than smoothing it over.
For a broader account of how the franchise was built, see the history of the Houston Astros, and for the players behind the numbers see the best players in Astros history, position by position.
The shape of the record at a glance
Before the details, the headline numbers. Through 2025 the franchise has played 64 seasons (1962 to 2025) and owns a record of 5,096 wins and 5,040 losses, a .503 winning percentage. It has won five league pennants (2005, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022), two World Series (2017 and 2022), fourteen division titles, and four wild-card berths (2004, 2005, 2015 and 2020).
Across all of its postseason history the club has played 34 series and won 18 of them, losing 16. Those 34 include five World Series, of which Houston won two and lost three. The split by era is the more interesting figure, because the club's postseason fortunes changed so sharply:
| Era | Series played | Won | Lost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 to 2001 (Astrodome and Enron Field) | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 2004 to 2005 (Minute Maid Park, National League) | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| 2015 to 2024 (American League West) | 22 | 15 | 7 |
The first row is the one that defined the club's reputation for a generation: seven series, seven defeats, and only two games won in the last four of them. The last row is the reason the franchise is now spoken of as one of the best of the 2020s. Short series are noisy, so neither row is a pure measure of quality: a five-game series can be decided by one bounce, and seven straight coin flips are not impossible. But a club that loses seven in a row and then wins fifteen of twenty-two is not simply the same team with better luck.
Eighteen seasons without October, 1962 to 1979
The club began in 1962 as the Houston Colt .45's, a National League expansion team that played in Colt Stadium. It became the Astros in 1965 when it moved into the Astrodome, which it would call home through 1999. Its first season ended at 64-96, and the franchise did not win a division title until 1980.
There is no postseason to describe in these years, but the regular-season record gives the context. In 1975 the club went 64-97, which ranks among its worst seasons by winning percentage. The historical record ranks the five worst seasons in club history as 2013 (51-111), 2012 (55-107), 2011 (56-106), 1975 (64-97) and 1962 (64-96). Three of those five belong to the early 2010s, which matters when the club's later rise is considered, and two come from its first fourteen seasons.
The first sign of a team built to win came in the late 1970s under manager Bill Virdon, who managed the club from 1975 to 1982 and holds the club record for games managed, 1,067. The Astrodome was a hard park for home-run hitters, and the club's best players of the era, such as Cesar Cedeno (487 stolen bases for the franchise) and Jose Cruz (1,937 hits), were built around contact and speed rather than power. Virdon's final record with the club was 544-522, a mark that reflects both the lean years and the contending ones near the end of his stay.
1980 and 1981: the first two trips
The Astros won the National League West in 1980 with a 93-70 record, scoring 637 runs and allowing 589. They faced the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series and lost three games to two. It was the first postseason series in club history, and it was a close one: five games, a one-game margin.
In 1981 the strike-shortened season was split into two halves, and the Astros won the division through the half-season format. The historical record lists a National League West division series that year, which the club lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers three games to two. The regular-season record was 61-49. Two postseason appearances in two years and two five-game defeats gave the club a taste for October without any prize attached.
| Year | Record | Round | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 93-70 | NLCS | Philadelphia | Lost 2-3 |
| 1981 | 61-49 | NL West division series | Los Angeles | Lost 2-3 |
Both defeats were one game from the club's first series win. That pattern, close losses that became a pattern, is part of why Houston's postseason history before 2004 reads as a long list of near misses rather than a list of outright defeats.
1986: the Mike Scott team
Houston returned to the postseason in 1986, winning the West at 96-66 and scoring 654 runs while allowing 569. The staff was led by Mike Scott, who won the National League Cy Young Award that season, the first Cy Young Award in club history. Hal Lanier managed the club from 1986 to 1988.
The National League Championship Series that year went six games, and Houston lost it to the New York Mets, four games to two. The Mets went on to win the World Series. The series is remembered for its length and its extra-inning drama, including a sixteen-inning Game 6, but the point for the club's record is simple: it was the club's third postseason series in seven years and the third one it had lost, each time by a single game or two.
It would be eleven years before the club made the postseason again. In that gap the Astrodome aged, the lineup turned over, and a new core arrived: Craig Biggio, who made his debut in 1988, and Jeff Bagwell, who arrived in 1991 and won the Rookie of the Year Award. Between them they would collect 3,060 and 2,314 hits for the club and would dominate its record books. Bagwell won the Most Valuable Player Award in 1994, a strike-shortened season in which the club did not reach October.
1997 to 2001: four division titles and no series wins
This is the stretch that most defines the Astros' pre-2004 reputation. Between 1997 and 2001 the club won the National League Central four times (1997, 1998, 1999 and 2001) and lost in the first round every time. Larry Dierker managed the club for all five of those years and compiled a 435-348 record.
| Year | Record | Runs scored-allowed | Opponent | Series result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 84-78 | 777-660 | Atlanta | Lost 0-3 |
| 1998 | 102-60 | 874-620 | San Diego | Lost 1-3 |
| 1999 | 97-65 | 823-675 | Atlanta | Lost 1-3 |
| 2001 | 93-69 | 847-769 | Atlanta | Lost 0-3 |
The 1998 team won 102 games, the most in club history at that point and still the fourth-best regular season by winning percentage in franchise annals. The 1999 team won 97 and was the last to play its home games in the Astrodome. The 2001 team played in what was then Enron Field, which opened in 2000 and was later renamed Minute Maid Park.
The combined result was two wins and twelve losses across the four series. Atlanta, a club in the middle of its own long run of division titles, swept Houston in 1997 and 2001 and won in four games in 1999. It is easy to read that as a collapse; part of it was simply the cost of meeting a strong opponent in a series short enough that a few plays decide it. The 1998 team had the best record of the four and still lost in four games to a San Diego team that went on to the World Series.
2004 and 2005: the first series wins and the first pennant
In 2004 the club finished 92-70, second in its division, and took the National League wild card. That team had added Roger Clemens, who won the National League Cy Young Award that year, and in the postseason it finally won a series, beating Atlanta three games to two in the division series. It was the first postseason series victory in the franchise's history, after seven straight defeats.
The National League Championship Series that followed went the full seven games against the St. Louis Cardinals, and Houston lost it, three games to four. St. Louis had won 105 games that year, and the series was close enough that the club's loss still stung more than any of the earlier defeats. If you want the other side of this rivalry, see the best St. Louis Cardinals seasons and every October run.
The club got its revenge the next year. In 2005 the Astros went 89-73, again claimed the wild card, beat Atlanta three games to one in the division series, and then beat the Cardinals four games to two in the National League Championship Series. The image most people remember from that series is a home run by Albert Pujols off Brad Lidge in Game 5, which kept St. Louis alive for one more game, but it was Houston that advanced.
The 2005 World Series was the first in club history, and it was a sweep for the other side: the Chicago White Sox won four games to none. Houston scored 693 runs in the regular season and allowed 609, a modest run differential for a pennant winner, and the staff built around Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettitte and Lidge was good enough to reach the Series but not to win a game in it.
| Year | Round | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | NLDS | Atlanta | Won 3-2 |
| 2004 | NLCS | St. Louis | Lost 3-4 |
| 2005 | NLDS | Atlanta | Won 3-1 |
| 2005 | NLCS | St. Louis | Won 4-2 |
| 2005 | World Series | Chicago White Sox | Lost 0-4 |
The rebuild: 2011 to 2013
The club's worst stretch followed. After 2005 the Astros slipped, and by 2011 the team had fallen to 56-106. The next two seasons were worse: 55-107 in 2012 and 51-111 in 2013, the worst record in the club's history and the worst winning percentage in the historical franchise sheet. In the 2013 season the club also moved to the American League West, a realignment that gave each league fifteen teams. The 2013 team finished fifth in its division; the 2012 and 2011 teams, still in the National League Central, finished sixth.
What followed was a deliberate rebuild that shaped the next decade. The losing records brought high draft positions, and the club used them to assemble the young core of the next contender. The 2013 season is the clearest low point in the franchise's record, but the 2015 team shows how quickly the rebuild paid off.
The Astros of 2015 went 86-76, finished second in the American League West, and earned the wild card. They beat the New York Yankees in the one-game wild-card round (1-0 in the sheet's series count) and then lost the division series to the Kansas City Royals, three games to two. The Royals went on to win the World Series that year. Carlos Correa was the American League Rookie of the Year and Dallas Keuchel won the Cy Young Award.
2017: the first World Series title
The 2017 Astros won the American League West with a 101-61 record, scoring 896 runs and allowing 700. They beat the Boston Red Sox three games to one in the division series, then beat the Yankees four games to three in a championship series that went the distance. In the World Series they faced the Los Angeles Dodgers and won, four games to three, to give Houston its first title in 56 seasons.
Jose Altuve was the American League Most Valuable Player, the second Astro to win the award after Bagwell. A. J. Hinch managed the club from 2015 to 2019 and compiled a 481-329 record. Hurricane Harvey struck Houston in late August of that year, forcing the club to play a home series elsewhere, and the title carried that background with it.
The 2017 title also carries a shadow that the record book does not show. In January 2020 Major League Baseball released the findings of an investigation that concluded the club had used a camera feed to steal opposing catchers' signs during the 2017 season and into 2018. The league punished the organization with a fine and the loss of draft picks, and the general manager and the manager were suspended and then dismissed by the club. The title was not vacated, and the historical record still lists the club as the 2017 champion. How readers weigh it is a matter of opinion, but any honest account of the era has to include it.
2018 and 2019: 103 wins and 107 wins
The next two years were the best the club has had by regular-season record. The 2018 team went 103-59, allowing only 534 runs, the best run prevention of any full season in this article except 2022's 518. It swept the Cleveland Indians three games to none in the division series but lost the American League Championship Series to the Boston Red Sox, four games to one.
The 2019 team went 107-55, the best record in franchise history, scoring 920 runs and allowing 640. Justin Verlander won the Cy Young Award and Yordan Alvarez was the Rookie of the Year. The club beat Tampa Bay three games to two in the division series and the Yankees four games to two in the championship series, and then faced the Washington Nationals in the World Series. It lost in seven games. What made that series unusual is that the visiting team won all seven games, an outcome without precedent in the World Series.
| Year | Record | Run differential | Postseason result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 107-55 | +280 | Won ALDS and ALCS, lost World Series 3-4 |
| 2022 | 106-56 | +219 | Won the World Series |
| 2018 | 103-59 | +263 | Won ALDS, lost ALCS 1-4 |
| 1998 | 102-60 | +254 | Lost NLDS 1-3 |
| 2017 | 101-61 | +196 | Won the World Series |
| 1999 | 97-65 | +148 | Lost NLDS 1-3 |
By run differential, the 2019 team is the best in the table, with 280 more runs scored than allowed. The 2018 and 1998 teams follow. The 2022 team is fourth on that measure but second by record, a reminder that run differential and winning percentage can disagree by a few wins in a 162-game season.
2020 to 2023: Dusty Baker and a team that kept winning
The shortened 2020 season produced a 29-31 record but still sent the club to the postseason in an expanded 16-team field. The Astros beat Minnesota two games to none in the wild-card round and beat Oakland three games to one in the division series. Facing Tampa Bay in the American League Championship Series, they lost the first three games and won the next three before losing the seventh, ending the series three games to four.
Dusty Baker, who managed the club from 2020 to 2023 and compiled a 320-226 record, took the club to the American League Championship Series in each of his four seasons. In 2021 the club went 95-67, beat the White Sox three games to one and Boston four games to two, and then lost the World Series to Atlanta, four games to two.
In 2022 the club went 106-56, the second-best record in its history, and swept both the Mariners in the division series (three games to none) and the Yankees in the American League Championship Series (four games to none). It beat Philadelphia four games to two in the World Series for its second title. Verlander won his second Cy Young Award with the club that year, and Baker had his first championship as a manager.
| Year | Record | ALDS | ALCS | World Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 29-31 | Beat Oakland 3-1 | Lost to Tampa Bay 3-4 | Did not reach |
| 2021 | 95-67 | Beat Chicago 3-1 | Beat Boston 4-2 | Lost to Atlanta 2-4 |
| 2022 | 106-56 | Beat Seattle 3-0 | Beat New York 4-0 | Beat Philadelphia 4-2 |
| 2023 | 90-72 | Beat Minnesota 3-1 | Lost to Texas 3-4 | Did not reach |
In 2023 the club won the division at 90-72, beat Minnesota three games to one in the division series, and lost the championship series to the Texas Rangers in seven games. That was the seventh consecutive American League Championship Series for the club, a streak that began in 2017.
2024 and 2025: the streak ends
The 2024 Astros went 88-73 and won the American League West for the fourth year in a row, then lost a best-of-three wild-card series to the Detroit Tigers, two games to none. It was a short exit, and it ended the run of seven straight championship series. As a division winner with only 88 wins, the club was seeded third and did not receive a bye. Baker's tenure as manager had ended after 2023.
In 2025 the club went 87-75, finishing second in the division, and did not reach the postseason. As of the 2025 season, the franchise's most recent postseason appearance is therefore the 2024 wild-card loss. The club had reached the postseason in eight consecutive seasons, 2017 through 2024, before the streak ended.
The ballpark itself was called Minute Maid Park from 2002 through 2024 and Daikin Park in 2025; the Daikin Park guide covers its history and dimensions, and the Astros team page has the current standings.
What the numbers say about the best teams
Three patterns stand out across the club's best seasons. First, the great Astros teams have won in different ways. The 2018 team led with run prevention (534 runs allowed), the 2019 team with run scoring (920 runs), and the 2022 team with the stingiest pitching of the group (518 allowed). There is no single formula in the table.
Second, home-field advantage has mattered less than reputation suggests. In the 2019 World Series the road team won every game, and in the 2020 championship series the club came back from a three-game deficit to force a seventh game before losing it. A short series is a small sample whichever park it is played in.
Third, format changes the comparison between eras. The Astros of 1997 to 2001 faced a best-of-five division series as one of four playoff teams in the league; the Astros of 2020 to 2024 played in a 16-team field in 2020, a 10-team field in 2021 and a 12-team field from 2022, in which the top two seeds skip the wild-card round. For a full explanation, see how the MLB postseason works.
Common questions
How many World Series has Houston won? Two: 2017, when the club beat the Los Angeles Dodgers four games to three, and 2022, when it beat Philadelphia four games to two. It has also lost three: 2005, 2019 and 2021.
What is the club's best regular-season record? 107-55 in 2019, a .660 winning percentage. The 2022 team (106-56) and the 2018 team (103-59) are next in the historical record for seasons of 100 or more games.
Did Houston win any postseason series before 2004? No. The club lost all seven series it played between 1980 and 2001, then beat Atlanta in the 2004 division series for its first.
Has the club ever won the World Series in the National League? No. Houston's 2005 appearance was its only National League World Series, and it lost. Both titles came after the move to the American League.
How many division titles does the club have? Fourteen: 1980, 1981, 1986, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Where to go next
If you want to see how the Astros stack up against their division rivals, read the histories of the Athletics, the Los Angeles Angels and the Seattle Mariners, and read the history of the World Series for the format behind each of the series above. For the current club, see the Astros topic page and the team page.