Opening with grand intentions
Such are the expectations of Hinch and his players that the Astros’ bar is set at the highest possible level
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The orangeand-blue sign, planted beneath a huge and hovering white H, says it all. “2017 World Champions.” Not 2018. Boston was stronger than the Astros last year, topping 103 wins with 108, beating up Houston’s MLB team 4-1 in the American League Championship Series and taking the world championship that once belonged to A.J. Hinch and Co. Not 2019 … yet. But the constant chatter already has started.
The beginnings of so many small things in mid-February — Jose Altuve recovering from knee surgery; ex-Indian Michael Brantley introducing himself by name to a new Astros coach; 24-year-old Carlos Correa facing a comeback season — are already pointing toward a final defining convergence in late October. And for the club that won the whole darn thing in 2017, the desire to capture another World Series trumps all two years later.
You can debate all the names for Hinch’s No. 5 starting pitcher. You can
worry about who will be catching Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole, whether the Astros already have seen peak Josh Reddick, and if Marwin Gonzalez really can be replaced.
The Astros are solely focused on a second trophy. Everything else is secondary in 2019.
“I love it. I love the expectations,” Hinch said on a rainy Wednesday at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. “I’m probably not as bullish as some guys like (Alex) Bregman and J.V. and some of the others that like to throw it out there. But I do love being one of the best teams in baseball from the beginning of the season, then having to go out and prove it and try to bring another championship here.
“That beats having a bad team and no expectations.”
If you’re talking about the internal and external pressure that comes with huge expectations, you’re already behind the times. That trend started in 2016, after the Astros shocked baseball during Hinch’s first season and nearly knocked off eventual champion Kansas City on the way toward the ALCS.
If you’re asking how the Astros are going to follow up the best season in franchise history, you received that answer last year. A world title was backed up with a franchise-record 103 victories and a second consecutive AL West crown.
The Rockets are NBA trophy or bust, but they’re still trying to get us to fully believe in them.
The Texans, of course, have never come close to the Super Bowl.
The Astros have been doing this winning thing for a while — that painful rebuild almost feels like it bottomed out a decade ago, doesn’t it? — and they’ve lifted the bar so high that there’s only one level left to reach. The dynasty stage. Going back-to-back basically accomplishes that feat in modern MLB. It has been almost 20 years since the New York Yankees took three straight from 1998-2000. Only one team in baseball was better than the Astros last season, which means the lingering goal from 2018 remains unchanged in ’19. Win it all. Again. “We all want to go out there and try to be the best we can be,” Altuve said. “That’s why I like this team, and that’s why I think we have a great, great opportunity to win another World Series.”
Question the back end of the rotation. Worry about replacing Dallas Keuchel, Charlie Morton, Lance McCullers Jr., Evan Gattis and Gonzalez. Wonder about the baseball future of 22-year-old Kyle Tucker, who enters his second year trying to snap a frigid 9-for-64 streak. Fine. Also remember that Hinch gets to write down these names every day: George Springer, Yuli Gurriel, Bregman, Altuve, Correa, Brantley. That the bullpen should be much improved (and you no longer have to yell at Ken Giles). And almost every other team in the sport would love to have the Astros’ youth, experience, potential, big league club, farm system, fan base, market power and recent trophy collection.
It was an offseason dictated by change. It’s also still many of the names you know so well.
“The bar’s pretty high around here, and we expect to win,” Hinch said. “And the guys that join us expect to win.” Pressure? Expectations? Old news for these Astros. They’ve seen it all since Hinch arrived and the winning started in 2015.
Now they just need to update their championship sign.