Houston Astros can look to their past for playoff hope

The Houston Astros have been fighting an uphill battle since being swept in a four-game series by the New York Yankees on opening weekend. Since then, the Astros have been working just to get back to .500.

After beating Detroit on Sunday and winning a three-game series against the Tigers, the Astros are 15-25 with about a quarter of the season completed.

Entering this week, the Astros are 6.5 games out of the American League West lead. They are nine games out of the Wild Card race.

But history shows that it is not quite over yet.

According to The Athletic, in the modern era of baseball (since 1901), three teams have started a season 15-25 and reached the playoffs.

One of them happens to be the 2005 Houston Astros.

Yes, the franchise’s first World Series team, led by Hall of Famers Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, began its 15-25 season on May 19. The season actually got worse before it got better, as the Astros lost five straight versus falling to 15-30, 15 games below .500.

The Astros returned to .500 for the first time on July 9, topped .500 for the first time on July 19, and went on a seven-game winning streak and 14-2 record through July to stay there for good.

Houston finished 89-73-1, clinching the National League Wild Card berth. From there, the Astros beat the Atlanta Braves in the Division Series and the St. Louis Cardinals in the Championship Series before being swept by the Chicago White Sox in the World Series.

The other two teams to achieve this were the 1974 Pittsburgh Pirates and the 1989 Toronto Blue Jays.

The Pirates finished 88-74, won the NL East and lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Championship Series. The Blue Jays finished 89-73, won the AL East and lost to the Oakland Athletics in the AL Championship Series.