The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division, having moved to the division in 2013 after spending their first 51 seasons in the National League (NL). They are one of two major league clubs based in Texas; the Texas Rangers belong to the same division.
Joe Leonard Morgan was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, and Oakland Athletics from 1963 to 1984. He won two World Series championships with the Reds in 1975 and 1976 and was also named the National League Most Valuable Player in each of those years. Considered one of the greatest second basemen of all time, Morgan was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.
The Lone Star Series is a Major League Baseball (MLB) rivalry featuring Texas' two major league franchises, the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers. It is an outgrowth of the "natural rivalry" established by MLB as part of interleague play as the Rangers are a member of the American League (AL) and the Astros were a member of the National League (NL) until 2012. During interleague play, the winner of the six-game series was awarded the Silver Boot, a 30-inch (760 mm) tall display of a size 15 cowboy boot cast in silver, complete with a custom, handmade spur. If each team had won three games each for a tie, the declared winner was the team that scored the most runs over the course of the series. In 2013, the Astros joined the American League West with the Rangers and changed their rivalry from an interleague to an intradivision contest. The rivalry, which was once dormant, has become far more heated in recent seasons. From 2013 to 2022, 19 games were played each season. Beginning in 2023, the teams play each other 13 times a year.
Women have a long history in American baseball and many women's teams have existed over the years. Baseball was played at women's colleges in New York and New England as early as the mid-nineteenth century; teams were formed at Vassar College, Smith College, Wellesley College, and Mount Holyoke College. An African American women's team, the Philadelphia Dolly Vardens, was formed in 1867.
Fox Sports Houston was an American regional sports network that was owned by Fox Cable Networks, a unit of the Fox Entertainment Group subsidiary of News Corporation, and operated as an affiliate of Fox Sports Networks. The channel, which operated out of facilities based in downtown Houston, Texas, originally began in April 2005 as a sub-feed of sister network Fox Sports Southwest and became a separate 24-hour channel on January 12, 2009.
Todd Harry Kalas is an American sportscaster, employed since 2017 as a television play-by-play announcer for Houston Astros baseball.
Julia Lauren Shehadi is an American sportscaster for the MLB Network and TNT Sports.
The Sugar Land Space Cowboys are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros Major League Baseball club. They are located in Sugar Land, Texas, part of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, and play their home games at Constellation Field.
The Space City Home Network is an American regional sports network owned jointly by the Houston Rockets and Houston Astros.
José Carlos Altuve is a Venezuelan professional baseball second baseman for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). Having played for the Astros since 2011, he is the longest-tenured current member of the team, and the only one to have been with the Astros since they were in the National League.
Samantha Ponder is an American sportscaster who is the host of Sunday NFL Countdown on ESPN. Prior to hosting Sunday NFL Countdown, Ponder worked as a reporter/host for ESPN college football and as a basketball sideline reporter. Ponder replaced Erin Andrews on College GameDay Saturdays at 10 AM ET on ESPN, as well as co-host of the Saturday 9 AM ET edition on ESPNU. In addition to her duties on College Gameday, Ponder had been the regular sideline reporter for ESPN's Thursday Night College Football with Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, and David Pollack from August 2012 until 2014. Ponder also appeared on the ESPN-owned Texas-oriented regional network Longhorn Network.
James Robert Crane is an American businessman from Houston, Texas. Crane is chairman and chief executive of Crane Capital Group, Crane Worldwide Logistics, and Crane Freight and Shipping. He is also the owner and chairman of the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball; under his ownership, the Astros have won two World Series championships.
George Chelston Springer III is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Houston Astros from 2014 to 2020.
Bally Sports San Diego is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. Prior to the team parting ways with the network in 2023, the San Diego Padres owned a 20% stake. It was launched on March 17, 2012.
Carlos Javier Correa Oppenheimer Jr. is a Puerto Rican professional baseball shortstop for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Houston Astros, who selected him first overall in the 2012 MLB draft.
The 2015 Kansas City Royals season was the 47th for the franchise, and their 43rd at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals made their second consecutive World Series appearance in 2015, after winning the American League in 2014. They won the series for the first time since 1985. The team won their first AL Central title on September 24, 2015, the first time the Royals won their division since 1985. They opened the playoffs by defeating the Houston Astros in five games in the ALDS and then defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in six games in the ALCS. They defeated the New York Mets in five games in the World Series, the second World Series championship in franchise history. The 2015 Royals were the first team since the 1989 Oakland Athletics to win the World Series after having lost the series in the previous season.
Anita Marie Martini was an American sports journalist and broadcaster. She was the first woman to cover a Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star Game (1973) and the first female journalist allowed into a baseball locker room. Based in Houston for most of her career, Martini worked for radio and television stations in the city from the mid-1960s until shortly before her death.
Leila Rahimi is an American television sports anchor and reporter.
The 2019 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2019 season. The 115th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League champion Houston Astros and the National League champion Washington Nationals. The series was played from October 22 to October 30. Washington upset the favored Astros, four games to three, to secure its first title in franchise history and first in the capital city since the 1924 series. Washington pitcher Stephen Strasburg was named the World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) after earning two wins in the series.
Jenny Cavnar is an American sports broadcaster who is the television play-by-play announcer of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB). She is the first female primary play-by-play announcer in MLB history. Cavnar also does play-by-play for men's and women's college basketball on Fox Sports 1 and the Pac-12 Network.
