Houston Astros: Three reasons why team doesn’t need the best AL record

Clutch City #1 in Our Hearts! Not in Our Past!

Okay! If you look at the history of Houston sports, it seems we do much better when people doubt us. Case in point, the 1994-95 Houston Rockets. Twice before we should’ve been dead in front of everyone’s eyes. Yet, we came away successful with titles. 2005 saw the Houston Astros go from 15-30 to the wild card to the World Series. We didn’t win it all, but we should not have been there. The Houston Oilers of 1978 didn’t deserve to reach the AFC Title Game. We weren’t supposed to win the MLS Cup in our expansion year with the Dynamo.

Yet we won anyway. There are those that still don’t give us the respect, which tells me two things.

1. Much like radical politicians these days (left or right), they’re blocked by their belief that Houston is not going to be successful. Ask Cub fans, Red Sox fans, or Cleveland fans about that. Maybe bring Sacremento, Buffalo, Philadelphia, San Diego, or the Detroit Lions into the mix.
2. They’re afraid that Houston is going to strike again much like a volcano so much that they don’t want their egos to be destroyed.

Ahem!

Ok! Enough about preparing for ego fails. Let’s bring up the real issue here. Us as the number one seed has not been good.

1. 1980 Houston Astros
2. 1983 Houston Cougars
3. 1993 Houston Oilers

All the teams mentioned have been the number one seed and came up empty. Why is that? There’s media pressure that people already give them success in titles that have yet to be given. Perhaps that’s why much of the media doesn’t talk about us like the rest of America.

There’s a big bullseye on our back that knows teams will come after them. We’re not the hunters. Instead, we’re the hunted.

As concluded by the three teams listed, we were outplayed all three times. Did we lose the games we were supposed to win? Perhaps! But, we were outplayed by everyone.

Now I’m not saying Houston can’t thrive as the number one seed. It takes a team to get hot in the right time. But with our city’s history in sports, we would much rather be the underdog now than the favorite. If we do win and we start to continue to win, then should we be the favorite, we can have a swagger of being the favorite.