PHILADELPHIA — This is the golden era of the Houston Astros. Since the start of the 2017 season, they have won 541 regular-season games, appeared in six straight American League Championship Series and reached four World Series.
But calling them a dynasty, as some have, feels incomplete. Their lone title in that span was in 2017, a season during which they were later revealed to have employed an illicit sign-stealing operation that relayed the upcoming pitch to their hitters. The franchise was punished in various ways, but the Astros never faltered, coming close to untainted titles in 2019 and 2021.