1998 Houston Astros season

The 1998 Houston Astros season was the 37th season for the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise in Houston, Texas. On the strength of a club record 102 wins, they rocketed to a second consecutive trip to the postseason with an National League Central title. They did not win 100 games again until 2017, while the record for wins would be broken the following year.

1998 Houston Astros
National League Central Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record102–60 (.630)
Divisional place1st
Other information
Owner(s)Drayton McLane, Jr.
General manager(s)Gerry Hunsicker
Manager(s)Larry Dierker
Local televisionKNWS-TV
Fox Sports Southwest
(Bill Brown, Jim Deshaies)
Local radioKILT (AM)
(Milo Hamilton, Alan Ashby)
KXYZ
(Francisco Ernesto Ruiz, Alex Treviño)
< Previous season     Next season >

Offseason
  • December 22, 1997: Rob Butler signed as a Free Agent with the Houston Astros.[1]

Regular season

First baseman Jeff Bagwell hit his first career grand slam while tying a career-high six runs batted in (RBI) against Cincinnati on September 9 in a 13–7 victory. It was his 218th career home run, making his streak the then-longest among active players without a grand slam.[2]

Season standings
NL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
Houston Astros 10260 0.630 — 55–26 47–34
Chicago Cubs 9073 0.552 12½ 51–31 39–42
St. Louis Cardinals 8379 0.512 19 48–34 35–45
Cincinnati Reds 7785 0.475 25 39–42 38–43
Milwaukee Brewers 7488 0.457 28 38–43 36–45
Pittsburgh Pirates 6993 0.426 33 40–40 29–53

Record vs. opponents
1998 National League Records

Sources:
Team ARI ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LAD MIL MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Arizona —1–85–74–56–66–24–54–86–32–74–52–76–33–95–72–75–8
Atlanta 8–1—3–67–25–37–54–58–17–26–69–38–47–25–47–26–39–7
Chicago 7–56–3—6–57–27–24–74–56–67–24–53–68–35–47–34–75–8
Cincinnati 5–42–75–6—4–59–03–85–46–58–13–64–55–71–112–78–37-6
Colorado 6–63–52–75–4—6–36–56–64–77–23–65–45–45–77–53–64–8
Florida 2–65–72–70–93–6—3–64–50–95–75–76–63–64–50–94–58–8
Houston 5–45–47–48–35–66-3—3–69–27–25–47–29–25–46–35–710–4
Los Angeles 8–41–85–44–56–65–46–3—5–45–43–55–47–55–76–64–58–5
Milwaukee 3–62–76–65–67–49–02–94–5—6–31–84–56–53–65–43–88–6
Montreal 7–26–62–71–82–77–52–74–53–6—8–45–72–74–43–63–66–10
New York 5–43–95–46–36–37–54–55–38–14–8—8–44–54–54–56–39–7
Philadelphia 7-24–86–35–44–56–62–74–55–47–54–8—8–11–82–63–67–9
Pittsburgh 3–62–73–87–54–56–32–95–75–67–25–41–8—5–42–76–56–7
San Diego 9–34–54–511–17–55–44–57–56–34–45–48–14–5—8–46–36–7
San Francisco 7–52–73–77–25–79–03–66–64–56–35–46–27–24–8—7–58–5
St. Louis 7–23–67–43–86–35-47–55–48–36–33–66–35–63–65–7—4–9

Notable Transactions

July 31, 1998: Randy Johnson was traded by the Seattle Mariners to the Houston Astros for a player to be named later, Freddy Garcia, and Carlos Guillén. The Houston Astros sent John Halama (October 1, 1998) to the Seattle Mariners to complete the trade.[3]

Game log
Legend
 Astros win
 Astros loss
 Postponement
BoldAstros team member
1998 Game Log
March/April (17–10)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
1March 31Giants4–90–1L1
2April 1Giants7–61–1W1
3April 2Giants2–91–2L1
4April 3Rockies15–22–2W1
5April 4Rockies3–52–3L1
6April 5Rockies6–23–3W1
7April 6Rockies13–44–3W2
8April 7@ Giants4–54–4L1
9April 8@ Giants6–35–4W1
10April 9@ Giants3–16–4W2
11April 10@ Dodgers2–76–5L1
12April 11@ Dodgers6–27–5W1
13April 12@ Dodgers6–77–6L1
14April 13@ Dodgers1–37–7L2
15April 15@ Reds1–47–8L3
16April 16@ Reds7–48–8W1
17April 17Expos5–39–8W2
18April 18Expos4–310–8W3
19April 19Expos4–510–9L1
20April 21@ Mets6–011–9W1
21April 22@ Mets7–1011–10L1
22April 24@ Expos8–412–10W1
23April 25@ Expos4–313–10W2
24April 26@ Expos15–014–10W3
25April 27@ Mets4–315–10W4
26April 28Mets4–316–10W5
27April 29Mets6–117–10W6
May (16–12)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
28May 1@ Phillies12–518–10W7
29May 2@ Phillies4–119–10W8
30May 3@ Phillies3–519–11L1
31May 5@ Cubs10–520–11W1
32May 6@ Cubs0–220–12L1
33May 8@ Brewers1–420–13L2
34May 9@ Brewers11–621–13W1
35May 10@ Brewers7–122–13W2
36May 11Marlins5–223–13W3
37May 12Marlins4–224–13W4
38May 13Pirates1–025–13W5
39May 14Pirates2–725–14L1
40May 15Braves2–325–15L2
41May 16Braves3–226–15W1
42May 17Braves8–127–15W2
43May 18Braves0–427–16L1
44May 19@ Expos2–427–17L2
45May 20@ Expos4–328–17W1
46May 21@ Expos6–029–17W2
47May 22Padres6–929–18L1
48May 23Padres4–330–18W1
49May 24Padres5–231–18W2
50May 25Dodgers3–431–19L1
51May 26Dodgers13–232–19W1
52May 27Dodgers1–332–20L1
53May 29@ Rockies7–633–20W1
54May 30@ Rockies3–633–21L1
55May 31@ Rockies5733–22L2
June (17–10)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
56June 2@ Padres4–334–22W1 = 57June 3@ Padres8–235–22W2
58June 4@ Padres1–535–23L1
59June 5Royals0–335–24L2
60June 6Royals6–036–24W1
61June 7Royals7–137–24W2
62June 8@ Tigers9–538–24W3
63June 9@ Tigers5–339–24W4
64June 10@ Tigers10–340–24W5
65June 12@ Reds1–840–25L1
66June 13@ Reds4–740–26L2
67June 14@ Reds6–341–26W1
68June 15@ Reds13–242–26W2
69June 16Cardinals4–942–27L1
70June 17Cardinals6–543–27W1
71June 18Cardinals6–743–28L1
72June 19Reds4–244–28W1
73June 20Reds9–845–28W2
74June 21Reds3–146–28W3
75June 22Twins3–546–29L1
76June 23Twins9–047–29W1
77June 24@ Rockies6–847–30L1
78June 25@ Rockies5–647–31L2
79June 26@ Indians2–447–32L3
80June 27@ Indians9–548–32W1
81June 28@ Indians12–349–32W2
82June 30White Sox17–250–32W3
July (15–12)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
83July 1White Sox10–451–32W4
84July 2White Sox3–451–33L1
85July 3Dbacks6–552–33W1
86July 4Dbacks4–752–34L1
87July 5Dbacks5–253–34W1
88July 9@ Cardinals5–454–34W2
89July 10@ Cardinals3–654–35L1
90July 11@ Cardinals3–454–36L2
91July 12@ Cardinals4–654–37L3
92July 13@ Dbacks3–554–38L4
93July 14@ Dbacks4–255–38W1
94July 15@ Dbacks8–955–39L1
95July 17Giants10–756–39W1
96July 18Giants7–257–39W2
97July 19Giants4–358–39W3
98July 20Rockies10–959–39W4
99July 21Rockies0–559–40L1
100July 22@ Dodgers4–659–41L2
101July 23@ Dodgers8–660–41W1
102July 24@ Padres2–161–41W2
103July 25@ Padres5–661–42L1
104July 26@ Padres4–561–43L2
105July 27Marlins9–162–43W1
106July 28Marlins7–363–43W2
107July 29Marlins10–664–43W3
108July 30Marlins3–464–44L1
109July 31@ Pirates7–465–44W1
August (22–7)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
110August 1@ Pirates2–166–44W2
111August 2@ Pirates6–267–44W3
112August 3@ Marlins3–1167–45L1
113August 4@ Marlins9–568–45W1
114August 5@ Marlins3–568–46L1
115August 7Phillies9–069–46W1
116August 8Phillies7–670–46W2
117August 9Phillies11–271–46W3
118August 10Brewers5–272–46W4
119August 11Brewers6–573–46W5
120August 12Brewers3–074–46W6
121August 13Brewers6–275–46W7
122August 14Cubs4–675–47L1
123August 15Cubs5–476–47W1
124August 16Cubs1–276–48L1
125August 17@ Phillies0–476–49L2
126August 18@ Phillies8–277–49W1
127August 19@ Phillies4–378–49W2
128August 20@ Brewers5–678–50L1
129August 21@ Brewers5–279–50W1
130August 22@ Cubs8–380–50W2
131August 23@ Cubs13–381–50W3
132August 24@ Cubs12–382–50W4
133August 25Braves3–283–50W5
134August 26Braves2–683–51L1
135August 28Pirates2–084–51W1
136August 29Pirates6–385–51W2
137August 30Pirates11–486–51W3
138August 31@ Braves4–387–51W4
September (15–9)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecordStreak
139September 1@ Braves4–687–52L1
140September 2@ Braves4–288–52W1
141September 4@ Dbacks1–388–53L1
142September 5@ Dbacks6–589–53W1
143September 6@ Dbacks10–190–53W2
144September 7Reds1–091–53W3
145September 8Reds13–792–53W4
146September 9Brewers6–293–53W5
147September 10Brewers7–194–53W6
148September 11Cardinals8–295–53W7
149September 12Cardinals3–296–53W8
150September 13Cardinals2–396–54L1
151September 14Mets4–796–55L2
152September 15Mets6–597–55W1
153September 15Mets4–897–56L1
154September 16Mets3–497–57L2
155September 18@ Pirates5–298–57W1
156September 19@ Pirates1–798–58L1
157September 20@ Pirates2–099–58W1
158September 22@ Cardinals0–499–59L1
159September 23@ Cardinals7–1100–59W1
160September 25Cubs6–2101–59W2
161September 26Cubs2–3101–60L1
162September 27Cubs4–3102–60W1

Roster
1998 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Brad Ausmus 128 412 111 .269 6 45
1B Jeff Bagwell 147 540 164 .304 34 111
2B Craig Biggio 160 646 210 .325 20 88
SS Ricky Gutiérrez 141 491 128 .261 2 46
3B Bill Spiers 123 384 105 .273 4 43
LF Moisés Alou 159 584 182 .312 38 124
CF Carl Everett 133 467 138 .296 15 76
RF Derek Bell 156 630 198 .314 22 108

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Sean Berry 102 299 94 .314 13 52
Richard Hidalgo 74 211 64 .303 7 35
Tony Eusebio 66 182 46 .253 1 36
Tim Bogar 79 156 24 .154 1 8
Dave Clark 93 131 27 .206 0 4
J.R. Phillips 36 58 11 .190 2 9
Jack Howell 24 38 11 .289 1 7
Pete Incaviglia 13 16 2 .125 0 2
Russ Johnson 8 13 3 .231 0 0
Mitch Meluskey 8 8 2 .250 0 0
Ray Montgomery 6 5 2 .400 0 0
Daryle Ward 4 3 1 .333 0 0

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Shane Reynolds 35 233.1 19 8 3.51 209
José Lima 33 233.1 16 8 3.70 169
Mike Hampton 32 211.2 11 7 3.36 137
Sean Bergman 31 172 12 9 3.72 100
Randy Johnson 11 84.1 10 1 1.28 116
Pete Schourek 15 80 7 6 4.50 59
John Halama 6 32.1 1 1 5.85 21

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO

N/A

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Doug Henry 59 8 2 2 3.04 59
Billy Wagner 58 4 3 30 2.70 97
Mike Magnante 48 4 7 2 4.88 39
C.J. Nitkowski 43 3 3 3 3.77 44
Trever Miller 37 2 0 1 3.04 30
Jay Powell 29 3 3 4 2.38 38
Scott Elarton 28 2 1 2 3.32 56
Bob Scanlan 27 0 1 0 3.08 9
Reggie Harris 6 0 0 0 6.00 2
José Cabrera 3 0 0 0 8.31 1
Mike Grzanich 1 0 0 0 18.00 1

National League Divisional Playoffs
Main article: 1998 National League Division Series

Houston Astros vs. San Diego Padres

The Astros season ended by defeat in four games to the San Diego Padres in the National League Division Series,[4] including losing two starts against Kevin Brown – one of the league's highest-accomplished pitchers that year[5] – both by a 2–1 score. As the Game 1 starter opposing Randy Johnson, Brown allowed no runs in eight innings and struck out 16 Astros, a career-high, and second to that point in MLB playoff history only to Bob Gibson's 17-strikeout performance in the 1968 World Series. [6] Bagwell, Derek Bell, and Craig Biggio combined for six hits in 51 at bats in this series.[7]

Game Home Score Visitor Score Date Series
1Houston1San Diego2September 291-0 (SD)
2Houston5San Diego4October 11-1
3San Diego2Houston1October 32-1 (SD)
4San Diego6Houston1October 43-1 (SD)

Awards and Records
  • Larry Dierker, National League Manager of the Year

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA New Orleans Zephyrs Pacific Coast League John Tamargo
AA Jackson Generals Texas League Jim Pankovits
A Kissimmee Cobras Florida State League Manny Acta
A Quad Cities River Bandits Midwest League Mike Rojas
A-Short Season Auburn Doubledays New York–Penn League Lyle Yates
Rookie GCL Astros Gulf Coast League Julio Linares

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: New Orleans; LEAGUE CO-CHAMPIONS: Auburn

References
  1. Rob Butler Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  2. "Bagwell has a career day in 13–7 victory". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. September 9, 1998. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  3. Randy Johnson Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  4. Swydan, Paul (May 17, 2013). "The 1998 Astros were pretty good at hitting". Fangraphs. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  5. Newhan, Ross (October 5, 1998). "Once again, Biggio Bagwell and Bell are wannabes in playoffs". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 21, 2016.
  6. Newhan, Ross (September 30, 1998). "Powerful Astros are shut down by a Brown out". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 21, 2016.
  7. Diamos, Jason (October 5, 1998). "Padres defeat Johnson; next up are the Braves". The New York Times. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
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