Spearheaded by the Killer B's, a collection of prominent hitters that included the Astros' Hall of Fame members Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, along with closer Billy Wagner, the Astros began reaching major prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s with four further division titles and two Wild Card appearances, culminating in their first World Series appearance in 2005 where they were swept by the Chicago White Sox.

Under Crane's ownership, the Astros embraced sabermetrics and pioneered new analytical technologies in their transition to the American League, and by the mid-2010s transformed from a historically middling franchise into one of MLB's most dominant and successful clubs, as headlined by stars such as Jose Altuve.

[21] The Buffs played one last minor league season as the top farm team of the Chicago Cubs in 1961 before being succeeded by the city's NL club.

Grass would not grow in the new park, since the roof panels had been painted to reduce the glare that was causing players on both the Astros and the visiting teams to miss routine pop flies.

Aspromonte was sent to the Braves and Rusty Staub was traded to the expansion Montreal Expos, in exchange for outfielder Jesús Alou and first baseman Donn Clendenon.

Wilson's no-hitter lit the Astros' fire after a miserable month of April, and six days later the team tied a major league record by turning seven double plays in a game.

In one game at New York, Denis Menke and Jimmy Wynn hit grand slams in the same inning, against a Mets team that would go on to win the World Series that same year.

McMullen showed the city of Houston that he too wanted a winning team, signing nearby Alvin, Texas native Nolan Ryan to the first million-dollar-a-year deal.

Ken Forsch pitched particularly strong fourth and fifth innings, but Greg Luzinski hit a sixth-inning two-run bomb to the 300 level seats of Veterans Stadium.

This allowed Lanier to keep his three starters (Nolan Ryan, Bob Knepper, and Mike Scott) sharp and to slowly work in rookie hurler Jim Deshaies.

In Game 3, the Astros were ahead at Shea Stadium, 5–4, in the bottom of the 9th when closer Dave Smith gave up a two-run home run to Lenny Dykstra, giving the Mets a dramatic 6–5 win.

Gone were the blue and gold uniforms of the 1990s in favor of a more "retro" look with pinstripes, a traditional baseball font, and the colors of brick red, sand and black.

The one-year deal included unique conditions, such as the option for Clemens to stay home in Houston on select road trips when he wasn't scheduled to pitch.

After being booed at the 2004 All-Star Game held in Houston, manager Jimy Williams was fired and replaced by Phil Garner, a star on the division-winning 1986 Astros.

The Astros won a wild card berth on the final day of the regular season, becoming the first team since the World Series champion 1914 Boston Braves to qualify for the postseason after being 15 games under .500.

The Astros renewed the contract with Clemens and traded two minor league prospects to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for left-handed hitter Aubrey Huff.

Utility player Mark Loretta accepted Houston's salary arbitration and Kazuo Matsui finalized a $16.5 million, three-year contract with the team.

[78] The Houston Astros played their first game as an American League team on March 31, 2013, where they were victorious over their in-state division competitor, the Texas Rangers, with a score of 8–2.

In the top half of the eighth inning, which took about 45 minutes to end, the Royals had taken a 7–6 lead with 5 consecutive singles and a notable error from SS Carlos Correa which tied the game as well as allowed the winning run to reach base.

Entering the playoffs as the top-seeded team in both leagues, they defeated the AL Wild Card winner Tampa Bay Rays in five games in the ALDS, advancing to the ALCS for the third year in a row to face the New York Yankees.

In Game 6 at Minute Maid Park, Jose Altuve hit a walk-off home run to win the pennant and send the team to its third World Series appearance.

[110] However, the report led the Red Sox to dismiss Cora two days after it was published,[111] and the Mets did the same with Beltran, who had been hired as manager shortly before the original story.

As such, the Astros had to rely a plethora of young arms such as Cristian Javier to go alongside veterans in Lance McCullers Jr. and Zack Greinke to accompany an offense that had just one .300 batter in Michael Brantley.

[116] The Astros beat the Chicago White Sox in the American League Division Series to advance to their fifth consecutive ALCS, a feat matched by only two teams in LCS history and the first since the Atlanta Braves of the 1990s (having made all eight contested NLCS from 1991 to 1999).

Upon entering the postseason, the Astros swept the Mariners in three tightly contested ALDS games to advance to their American League record sixth consecutive ALCS.

The road uniforms featured the city name written in navy block letters with orange trim, and the flag of Texas patch was placed on the left sleeve.

The left sleeve patch has the modified Texas flag recolored to the Astros' navy and orange motif, with the "H-star" logo replacing the white star.

[139] Two awards are presented each year, one to a Houston Astro and one to a St. Louis Cardinal, each of whom exemplifies Kile's virtues of being "a good teammate, a great friend, a fine father and a humble man."

Nellie Fox Jeff Bagwell *Craig Biggio * Leo DurocherRandy Johnson Eddie MathewsJoe Morgan Robin Roberts Iván RodríguezNolan Ryan Don SuttonBilly Wagner * Gene Elston Milo Hamilton Al Helfer Harry Kalas On January 26, 2019, the team announced plans for a team Hall of Fame along with an inaugural class of inductees (including all retired numbers and members of the 2012 Walk of Fame), complete with an orange jacket and renderings for each of the inductees.

Milo Hamilton, a veteran voice who was on the call for Hank Aaron's 715th career home run in 1974, retired at the end of the 2012 season, after broadcasting play-by-play for the Astros since 1985.