1995 Houston Astros: One Game Short
The Houston Astros were starting to come into their own as they came into 1995. The franchise was coming off two consecutive winning seasons and were firmly in the hunt for the playoffs in 1994 when the August strike cancelled the balance of the season. Baseball resumed in 1995 and so did the Astros, as they got themselves into contention and stayed there until finally falling by the wayside on the regular season’s final day.
BAGWELL & BIGGIO LEAD A BALANCED ATTACK
Jeff Bagwell won the MVP award in the truncated ’94 season and the future Hall of Fame first baseman swung the bat well again this year. He posted a stat line of .399 on-base percentage/.496 slugging percentage. Craig Biggio also had Cooperstown in his future and the second baseman had an exquisite all-around year–.406/.483 stat line, 33 stolen bases, 22 home runs and a league-leading 123 runs scored.
Bagwell and Biggo were surrounded by players who could get on base, something Houston did more than anyone in the National League. Derek Bell’s OBP was .385 and the rightfielder also drove in 86 runs. Dave Magadan was on-base machine at third base, racking up a .428 OBP. Tony Eusebio behind the plate and centerfielder Brian Hunter also excelled at getting aboard.
The old Houston Astrodome where the franchise played through 1999 was spacious and not conducive to offense. But with this cast, the Astros ranked third in the National League for runs scored.
A STAFF BETTER ON PAPER THAN IN REALITY
The Astrodome factor helped to cover up a more pedestrian pitching staff. Shane Reynolds was the nominal ace, making 30 starts and finishing with a 3.47 ERA. Veteran Doug Drabek went to the post 31 times, but his ERA was up there at 4.77. No one else made 30 starts, although Mike Hampton pitched well in his 24 opportunities, finishing with a 3.35 ERA. Greg Swindell and Darryl Kile rounded out the rotation with ERAs in the mid-to-high 4s.
Dave Veres was the best reliever and the most effective pitcher on the staff, logging 103 innings with a 2.26 ERA. Todd Jones handled closing duties, saving 15 games with an ERA of 3.07.
Taken at face value, those numbers aren’t bad and Houston finished fifth in the NL for staff ERA. But this was really an exceptionally good lineup combined with a mediocre pitching staff that home park effects made look balanced.
SO-SO BEGINNINGS
The season didn’t start until late April, due to the time it took to resolve the strike. Houston opened the season at home with the Colorado Rockies. There were ten runs combined scored over three games. Houston lost two of three in a series that looks a lot more significant in retrospect than it did at the time.
The Astros went to Wrigley Field, beat the Cubs two straight, and that started a nice 7-2 road trip through several NL Central rivals (where Houston resided prior to their American League move in 2013). They went on to sweep three straight from a Philadelphia Phillies team that was off to a hot start.
Cincinnati was the one NL Central foe Houston hadn’t yet played, and they were the ones the Astros had the biggest problems with. That started with three straight losses to Cincy in the latter part of May.
When Memorial Day arrived, Houston was puttering along at 14-15. They were five games back of the Cubs and four back of the second-place Reds.
FINDING THEIR FOOTING
The Atlanta Braves were on their way to a World Series title, and Houston swept the future champs three straight on the road over the first weekend of June. They soon gave that progress back by losing four straight at home to Cincinnati.
But in mid-June, the Astros started to find some consistency. They went on an East Coast swing and won seven of nine games. They hosted the Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals and won seven of ten.
In the final week before the All-Star break they went to Colorado. Again, they lost two of three to the contending Rockies. Although as if to underscore the importance of park effects, it went down the exact opposite of the season opening games—this series in Coors Field saw 55 runs combined scored over three games.
Houston would close the first half with five games in four days against the San Diego Padres. The Padres would hang around the fringes of the race into late summer. They were managed by Bruce Bochy and Tony Gwynn was still going strong. Otherwise, the Padres were not particularly notable in 1995. Except for the fact that they played in absolutely wild series in the Astrodome on this weekend leading into the All-Star break.
A WILD WEEKEND
The Astros trailed Thursday night’s opener 4-0 in the eighth inning. They got two in the eighth. Facing the great closer Trevor Hoffman in the ninth, Houston tied the game 4-4. It went to the 12th inning. The last of Bagwell’s three hits finally won it.
On Friday night, it was a 4-2 deficit in the eighth. Houston got one run. In the ninth inning, the backup Padre bullpen issued three walks. The Astros tied it 4-4. Magadan’s walk with the bases loaded was one of three RBIs he had on the night and it produced another 5-4 win.
Saturday was a doubleheader and the fans got well more than what they paid for. Drabek pitched well through eight innings, but the offense was held down and he gave way to the bullpen in a 1-1 tie. The game stretched on…and on. In the top of the 16th, San Diego scraped across a run and gave the ball to Hoffman. Again, Houston tied the game off the Hall of Fame closer. In the bottom of the 17th, Biggio delivered the RBI single that won it.
Biggio kept right on going in the nightcap, getting three hits and Hampton pitched five solid innings. The Astros won a more comfortable 4-1 decision. Even though they lost Sunday’s finale 9-2, Houston had closed the first half strong. They were 38-30. While that was five games off an NL Central pace now set by Cincinnati, the Astros were just one game back of Philadelphia for what was then a single wild-card berth.
JULY JOUSTS
After going 6-5 out of the break, Houston was set to host the Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado in consecutive two-game sets. The Dodgers and Rockies were jousting in the NL West and both were moving up fast on the wild-card chart.
After losing Monday night’s opener to Los Angeles, Drabek took the ball on Tuesday night and delivered a three-hit complete-game shutout. Bagwell and Biggio each homered in the 4-0 win.
Colorado rolled in on Wednesday night and Kile gave strong innings to get a 4-3 win. On Thursday night, the Astros tied the game in the ninth inning and got a walkoff bomb from Bagwell in the 12th to win it 5-4. They had taken three of four games in a key week for wild-card positioning.
NEAR-DISASTER IN AUGUST
Things went badly awry in August. The Astros were swept by four different teams, including the Reds, who beat them 12 of 13 times in 1995. For the month, Houston went 9-20.
The good news was that no one took control of the wild-card race. The Astros were 61-58 on Labor Day and bunched up in a race where six teams were within a game in the loss column. They had September to make it right.
ONE GAME SHORT
Another series loss to Cincinnati was a setback, but Houston got what was now a more important series against Philadelphia, taking two of three. The Astros were 2 ½ back of the NL West runner-up (where Colorado and Los Angeles were tied) but had moved ahead of everyone else.
Houston kept coming and won ten of their next fifteen games. By the time the final weekend arrived, the Astros were one game back. It was down to Houston, Colorado and Los Angeles for two playoff spots. The Dodgers led the Rockies by one game in the NL West, with the Astros one back of Colorado.
A strange tiebreaking situation had the potential to break in Houston’s favor. If all three teams finished in a dead heat, the Dodgers and Rockies would play a tiebreaker for the NL West—and that would count as a regular season game, thereby automatically vaulting Houston past the loser. In a more conventional two-way tie, it would be played off.
Those were the stakes as the Astros went to Wrigley Field.
Friday night was the big missed opportunity. The bullpens of Colorado and Los Angeles both failed and gave up late leads. The problem is that so did Houston’s. The standings held even. All three teams won on Saturday. The Dodgers were now in, and it was down to the Astros and Rockies for the wild-card.
Houston dug themselves an early 6-0 hole but had pulled back to even by the fifth inning. Colorado, playing at home, started a little later and the Astros could see the scoreboard as the Rockies also fell behind early. But Colorado also quickly pulled even. Both games stayed tight. Houston won…but so did the Rockies. The push for the playoffs was over.
BETTER DAYS AROUND THE CORNER
The Astros finished 76-68 in the shortened season. In today’s world, they would have been the 5-seed in the playoffs. They had the 11th-best record in MLB overall. 1996 saw some modest regression, although Houston continued to play winning baseball, with a record of 82-80.
It was 1997, after a managerial change, that the Astros rose to the top of the NL Central, beginning a stretch where they won four division titles in five years.