Wednesday night was a pretty significant night for the Houston Astros, not only securing a spot in the MLB Playoffs for the third straight season but getting their 100th win with a 3-2 victory over the Texas Rangers.
With that in mind, let’s look at the ‘Stros 100th victory by the numbers.
3: Three Straight 100-Win Seasons
It seems like just yesterday that the Astros were the laughingstock of the league, racking up multiple 100-loss seasons. However, the process was trusted and the farm system that the franchise developed has paid off in spades with their third straight season with at least 100 wins.
For a historical perspective, the last time that happened was in the early 2000s when the New York Yankees did that from 2002-2004.
300: Gerrit Cole Strikeouts
Gerrit Cole’s 2019 has been amazing just because of the numbers he has put up. While Justin Verlander seems to be running away with the AL Cy Young, Cole’s case comes solely from him fanning 300 batters on the season.
Cole is the first pitcher from the AL to achieve the feat since Pedro Martinez did it back in 1999.
7: Seven Straight Game with 10+ Ks
Cole has put together some absolute gems towards the tail end of the season and Wednesday was no exception with eight innings of work and became the sixth pitcher to record seven straight games with 10 strikeouts.
3: Magic Number
The most important number of them all is the magic number when it comes to securing the AL West for the third straight season. They might be able to lock it down this weekend when they begin a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on Friday night. It should be a relatively easy task for a team that has shut down Shohei Ohtani and leading MVP candidate Mike Trout in the last week.
Now the race for home-field advantage begins with the Astros currently one game up on the New York Yankees.