Sad news everyone. Zachary Levine lays out all the reasons why Houston may have the worst record in team history. So, in honor of that, I'm checking in on the last team to tie the worst record in team history, the '91 Astros. That team lost 97 games, but did pick up a young Jeff Bagwell for Larry Anderson. You may have heard of that trade.
This game was not very good, as Houston was shut out by Pittsburgh 8-0 at Three Rivers Stadium. It's also not a good omen for this weekend's series. But, here it sits, mocking all your hopes and dreams for a second half surge.
Houston and Pittsburgh were almost mirror images of each other in 1991. The Astros were 35-51 after this loss while the Pirates were 53-31, which is close enough as to be worth a comment. Also, this was the second-to-last winning season Pittsburgh had. After 1992, no more winning.
Jimmy Jones got hit pretty hard in this one for Houston, as he gave up eight hits and six runs in two innings of work, while walking one and striking out two. Jones only pitched in two seasons for Houston, but he was also the No. 3 overall pick by the Padres in the 1982 amateur draft. He won 10 games for Houston in '92, but that was the highlight of his career.
In case you didn't notice, that record for Houston from this game was a little better than the current 30-62 mark. The '91 team went 30-46 down the stretch. If Houston won at the same percentage as the '91 team did from this point on, they'll go 27-43 the rest of the way and get to 105 losses. It's sad that that seems as good a prediction as we might get for this team.
Anyways, here's the graphic replay of the game, thanks to Back to Baseball.