World Series: Eight Teams That Have Never Won
By Matt Veasey
Houston Astros
The franchise was established as an expansion team in the National League for the 1962 season as the Houston Colt .45s.
The name change to the Houston Astros would come three years later to correspond with their move into the “eighth wonder of the world”, the Astrodome, and to highlight both the new space age and the franchise’s proximity to the control center of the U.S. space program.
For the first 51 years of their existence, Houston would play in the National League, first in the NL West Division (1969-93) and ultimately in the NL Central (1994-2012) before a move to their current home in the American League West Division.
The organization does have a winning tradition. They captured NL West crowns in 1980 and 1986, and won NL Central titles four times in a five-year span between 1997-2001.
The club was also a National League Wild Card team in both 2004 and 2005, and reached the postseason for the first time in the American League a year ago as a 2015 AL Wild Card.
It was in one of those Wild Card years of 2005 that the Astros claimed their lone pennant, defeating the Atlanta Braves in four games in the NLDS and then the St. Louis Cardinals in six to reach their only World Series.
In that 2005 World Series, the Astros were swept by the Chicago White Sox in four straight. But they were all hard-fought. The ChiSox won the opener 5-3, took Games 2 and 4 by a single run, and won Game 3 by 7-5 in a 14-inning marathon.