Cheer up, Jose. You're rich and playing for a World Series champion.

Diggin the Captain Lou Albano beard

Astros' lineup to the rest of MLB:

Farmer1906 said:

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tjack16 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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tjack16 said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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tjack16 said:

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Lance having a "minor" injury seems as inevitable as taxes at this point. Has there been a year where he has been fully healthy through the playoffs since 2017-2018?

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2020

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That one doesn't count. 1/3 of a season

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It's a year and he was fully healthy.

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Let me rephrase the question. Has there been a full 162 game season where he has been healthy from start through playoffs since 2017-2018

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Are you asking if he was healthy is 21 or 22? Do you need that answered?

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Stop being a dick

Farmer1906 said:

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Some Astros talk.

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Chris wants so desperately for us to fail while Trevor knows what's up.

I love Trout as a player but shouldn't he be healthy for a full season before they put him back on these lists?

TarponChaser said:

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I love Trout as a player but shouldn't he be healthy for a full season before they put him back on these lists?

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It's not how good a player is only when healthy. It's how good the player is. He's still a stud.

Now, mvp and other awards like that...a season of health matters.

BadAggie said:

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If Yordan played in NY or LA he'd be in the top 3 on that list.

bearkatag15 said:

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The countdown is complete! pic.twitter.com/u8jhUyZSkL

— MLB (@MLB) February 24, 2023

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True, but he probably wouldn't have a ring.

Abreu as starter? Like him as multi inning relief option out of pen with high leverage situation ability.

McCullers injured? Yeah set your clock to that, still he turned in great shutout start in close out game in ALDS on the road. Problem there is his WS start bombed.

Brown has starting stuff.

Forrest Whitley is scheduled to start Monday’s Grapefruit League game against the Marlins.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) February 24, 2023

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Forrest Whitley is scheduled to start Monday’s Grapefruit League game against the Marlins.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) February 24, 2023

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Come on kid! We're all pulling for you to put it together this year.

36 days until Opening Day gets us to #36 on the countdown and one of the most underrated pitchers in Major League history, all-time Astro great Joe Niekro, who wore the # from 1975 to 1985 and was one of the club's all-time steals; the team purchased his contract from the Braves in 1975 for $35,000. He had done time with the Cubs, Padres, and Tigers previously. With the Braves, he played alongside his older brother Phil Niekro, a more established starter.



Although he had been a starter throughout the first 8 years of his career, the Astros used him out of the bullpen in 1975 and 1976. He was 6-4 in 1975 with 4 saves in 40 games. In 1977, he moved back to life as a starter at age 32 and was 13-8 with a 3.04 ERA.

In 1976, he hit the only home run of his career ... and it was against his brother.

The Niekros' father had taught them how to throw a knuckleball, and it was Phil's specialty throughout his career. Joe re-learned it while in Houston and started mixing it in with his fastball and slider. He put it all together in 1979 and went 21-11 with a 3.00 ERA. The 21 wins tied brother Phil for the NL lead, the only time that's happened in MLB history. He also pitched 11 complete games and led the league with 5 shutouts as the team went 89-73.

In 1980, the Astros won the West at last, with Niekro doing most of the heavy lifting. He went 20-12 with 11 complete games and 2 shutouts. On October 2, 1980, he beat the Braves 3-2 in front of 45,000 fans at the Astrodome to get Houston to 92-67 and a 3-game lead over the hated Dodgers with 3 games to go.

Of course, the team went to LA and lost 3 straight to finish tied with the Dodgers after 162 games, forcing the first one-game playoff in NL history since the Dodgers and Giants played a 3-game playoff to determine the pennant in 1962. The Astros lost all 3 regular season games by one run each, putting Niekro back on the mound vs. the not-so-good Dave Goltz in Game 163.

The Astros scored 2 unearned runs in the top of the first and were up 7-0 after 4 innings. Niekro steamrolled LA's offense, pitching a complete game and allowing one unearned run while striking out six. The Dodgers' only run was scored by Dusty Baker.

His next start was Game 3 of the NLCS. With the series tied 1-1, Niekro started the first post-season game in the history of the Astrodome and was utterly brilliant, pitching TEN innings of 6-hit shut out baseball with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts. Finally relieved by Dave Smith in the top of the 11th, Niekro took the no-decision when Joe Morgan tripled to lead off the bottom of the 11th and Denny Walling drove in the game-winning run with a sac fly off Tug McGraw.

If you want to see something on par for chills with the end of Game 5 vs LA in 2017, check out this YouTube clip which starts with Morgan's triple, then the Phillies IBB Cruz and Howe, and Walling wins it. The eruption of noise for your first-ever home playoff win is pure joy.



The Astros made the playoffs vs. LA in the strike-shortened 1981. Niekro was 9-9 despite a 2.82 ERA. He started Game 2 and went 8 shutout innings before giving way to the bullpen. Remarkably it was Denny Walling again with the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 11th of a 1-0 victory. Niekro with the no-decision!

He went on to win 48 games between 1982-1984 at ages 37-39, then fell off in 1985 and was traded to the Yankees for a young left-hander named Jim Deshaies. The next year he was traded from the Yankees to the Twins.

Niekro got in some serious trouble at the start of the year when he was caught scuffing the ball and tried to casually throw the emery board and sandpaper out of his pocket,




in one of the most hilarious things ever. He made light of the situation later that year when he appeared on Late Night with David Letterman wearing a tool belt and a powder sander. I can't even imagine Manfred's reaction to something like this happening today!




But he also had the last laugh as the Twins won the AL West despite winning just 85 games and wound up winning the World Series. Niekro pitched two scoreless innings and setting an MLB record for the oldest age (42) to make his World Series debut.

He remains the Astros all time win leader. Sadly, Joe died of a brain aneurysm in his early 60s in 2006.

Thank you for posting this. My wife and I are very involved with the Joe Niekro Foundation. If anyone else would like to get more info, shoot me a PM or check out the website: https://www.joeniekrofoundation.com/

AggieNiebs said:

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bearkatag15 said:

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Here's how many players each team has in MLB Network's Top 100 pic.twitter.com/2sSnSsxvvD

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) February 23, 2023

Elite status

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Angels have 2, and none of them are ranked 4-100..... wow!! thats one hell of a drop off from Ohtani and Trout...

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How can anyone remain an Angels fan. They had a generational player with full team control and never bothered to put anyone around him besides Trout.

You know how bad your front office has got to be to have Ohtani that cheap for so many years and never even sniff the playoffs.

I mean, technically they put Ohtani around Trout

The game has changed alot over the last decade. The teams that overhauled their organizations and got smarter in terms of development and analytics are now at the top. If your method of assembling a roster is via free agency and you acquire/retain superstars on mega huge contracts because they help keep fans in the seats, then you're going to lose in today's game.

The AL West has such stark dichotomy of teams that are suited to play in the new era of baseball and teams stuck in the early 2010s. The Astros are the smartest team in baseball. The A's are smart and can assemble teams that compete, but will naturally be up and down given their lack of resources. The Mariners are smart, took their time to develop their current roster and are about to enter a multi-year window of wild card contention.

On the flipside, if the Angels and Rangers aren't the two teams lagging furthest behind in MLB, they're pretty close to it. Both orgs need multi-year deep organizational overhauls if they want to compete. They don't develop, don't know how to spend money, and don't have the depth/resources to hang over 162 games. They value handing out big $$ to stars to help sell tickets.

Bregman was so hot in the 2022 post season. On base all 13 postseason games. Hit .294, 5 doubles, 3 homers, 11 RBI, .948 OPS.
Don't care what anyone says this was the most impactful AB of the postseason for me. This is when the tide turned. pic.twitter.com/DYrra6huP1

— 🏆 SPACEMAN 🏆 (@CopierCollin) February 24, 2023

Can't disagree here. This hit was massive

Let's see what else was posted. I can't watch these enough

Pena's homer to get the lead in the 18 inning game was a close 2nd for me. Those poor Mariners fans that waited that game out lol pic.twitter.com/mauwPqe7rm

— 🏆 SPACEMAN 🏆 (@CopierCollin) February 24, 2023