2024 Astros take fans on a rollercoaster ride: 5 defining moments of the unlikely division champs
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Houston Astros were widely the favorite to win the American League West heading into a 2024 season that started with a stinker: suffering a four-game sweep at home to the New York Yankees.
Fast-forward six months later, and the 'Stros, led by first-time manager Joe Espada, are sipping champagne as unlikely division titleholders.
The video above is from Sept. 24, 2024, when the Astros clinched the AL West title.
Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Framber Valdez, Alex Bregman, and a mishmash of rookie and veteran talent sent fans on a rollercoaster with peaks, like an early-season no-hitter, and valleys, like "Tuve" barefoot and thrown out of a game.
ABC13 Sports pinpointed five landmark moments that defined the season. Of course, if you think we forgot one, let us know.
Ronel Blanco's no-hitter
April 1, 2024: Of the starting pitching rotation pieces entering the season, the 30-year-old from the Dominican Republic may have been the unsung arm. After all, this was his first chance to start at the major league level.
And the first chance was a gem. In front of 27,285 people inside Minute Maid Park on April Fools Day of all nights, Blanco threw 105 pitches at 29 batters - none registered a base hit.
Blanco was the star of the Astros' first victory of 2024 and Joe Espada's first win of his major league managerial career. Despite a 10-20 start through the first 30 games, the victory, in a way, set the tone for the club's glorious late-season run.
SEE MORE: Hug with mom awaited Astros' Ronel Blanco after no-hit game, a big moment in pitcher's long journey
The King's contusion
June 3: Batters swing and bounce baseballs off their legs nightly, but when right fielder Kyle Tucker sent one off his shin, no one at the time knew it would cost the All-Star three months of his career.
The ballclub initially called the injury sustained against St. Louis a shin contusion, and the team expected him to be just days away from the field. When days turned into weeks upon weeks, fans realized something worse. Tucker later revealed that it was a shin fracture.
The 27-year-old's absence was crushing, for sure. Tucker was on track to compete for various home run and base-stealing crowns. But what the injury proved was the Astros were resilient. Houston won 49 of the 80 games Tucker missed during that stretch.
10 games back
June 18: This was rock bottom. At 33-40 and losers to the historically bad Chicago White Sox, the Astros dug deeper into a 10-game hole, looking up to the then-AL West leaders, the Seattle Mariners. Things were off for the team with World Series aspirations, and that's not to mention Tucker, Cristian Javier, and Justin Verlander were unavailable due to injuries.
So, how did Houston get from 10 games down to as many as six up on Seattle?
The 'Stros never looked back, going 18-6 from June 19 to July 19 when Houston caught up with the Mariners and earned a tie for first place in the division. Seattle, simply enough, collapsed, going 8-15 during that same stretch.
Cycle in Seattle
July 21: Yes, the Astros lost this game against the Mariners, but when a perennial All-Star earns a career accomplishment like this, it can solidify that star's standing in all of baseball.
Yordan Alvarez has hit three-homer games, walk-off blasts, and championship-winning go-ahead round-trippers. But until this Sunday afternoon, he had yet to hit for the cycle - a major league batter's rite of passage.
No. 44 singled in his first at-bat, homered in his second, stretched an RBI triple and earned the cycle with a late-game double. This game only added to the storybook lore of the Cuban slugger who went so unsung in the Dodgers organization that he was dispensable to the Astros. Thanks, LA.
SEE ALSO: Astros salute Mariners fan who grabbed historic Yordan Alvarez ball
Abreu out, Kikuchi in
June 14 and July 29: Baseball is a business that involves investments and divestitures. General manager Dana Brown refused to trade away assets well before the trade deadline, telling reporters that the team was "too good" to break up.
One piece, though, didn't get to see the season through. First baseman Jose Abreu got his walking papers in mid-June after the former AL MVP struggled at the plate and got shipped to the club's Florida Complex League to seek improvements. He was halfway into a three-year, $58.5 million contract when he departed.
However, for that subtraction, the team had an addition that was questionable at first but paid dividends later. The starting pitcher-needy Astros acquired one-time All-Star Yusei Kikuchi from the Toronto Blue Jays ahead of the July 30 deadline. Cool, right? Well, fans were widely not, um, fans of the trade, with most saying the cost of young major leaguers Will Wagner, Jake Bloss, and Joey Loperfido was too much for a rotation piece on an expiring deal. What had the Japanese left-hander done since arriving? He posted a 2.70 ERA in 10 games, all but one of which were Astros victories.
SEE ALSO: Don't sleep on this: New Astro known for needing 14 hours of sleep debuts with 11 strikeouts
Honorable mention
Spencer Arrighetti's August: The Astros needed starting arms badly, and they would get them any way they could, especially from Sugar Land. Like any fresh-faced rookie, the 24-year-old was average in his first four months in the majors, earning a 4-9 record. But, then, Arrighetti threw 12 strikeouts against Tampa Bay, another 13 at Fenway Park, and another 11 as part of a no-hit bid in Philadelphia, all in August. Arrighetti earned the AL Rookie of the Month on the other side of that fantastic month, solidifying his spot on the roster for the playoffs and years to come.
The walkoffs: Three were particularly the most exciting - all involving home runs. Victor Caratini's two-run blast on April 30 against Cleveland; Yainer Diaz's crush on Aug. 19 against Boston; and Alex Bregman's back-breaker against the Dodgers on July 27.
SEE ALSO: Jose Altuve's barefoot ejection creates latest wild moment in 'Stros history
Astros star Jose Altuve's act of kindness during ballgame creates boy's 'best moment'
