1998 Houston Astros season

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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 >

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.

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[]

  • v
  • t
NL Central 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Houston Astros 102 60 0.630 — 55–26 47–34
Chicago Cubs 90 73 0.552 12½ 51–31 39–42
St. Louis Cardinals 83 79 0.512 19 48–34 35–45
Cincinnati Reds 77 85 0.475 25 39–42 38–43
Milwaukee Brewers 74 88 0.457 28 38–43 36–45
Pittsburgh Pirates 69 93 0.426 33 40–40 29–53

Record vs. opponents[]

1998 National League Records
  • v
  • t

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]
Team ARI ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LAD MIL MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Arizona — 1–8 5–7 4–5 6–6 6–2 4–5 4–8 6–3 2–7 4–5 2–7 6–3 3–9 5–7 2–7 5–8
Atlanta 8–1 — 3–6 7–2 5–3 7–5 4–5 8���1 7–2 6–6 9–3 8–4 7–2 5–4 7–2 6–3 9–7
Chicago 7–5 6–3 — 6–5 7–2 7–2 4–7 4–5 6–6 7–2 4–5 3–6 8–3 5–4 7–3 4–7 5–8
Cincinnati 5–4 2–7 5–6 — 4–5 9–0 3–8 5–4 6–5 8–1 3–6 4–5 5–7 1–11 2–7 8–3 7-6
Colorado 6–6 3–5 2–7 5–4 — 6–3 6–5 6–6 4–7 7–2 3–6 5–4 5–4 5–7 7–5 3–6 4–8
Florida 2–6 5–7 2–7 0–9 3–6 — 3–6 4–5 0–9 5–7 5–7 6–6 3–6 4–5 0–9 4–5 8–8
Houston 5–4 5–4 7–4 8–3 5–6 6-3 — 3–6 9–2 7–2 5–4 7–2 9–2 5–4 6–3 5–7 10–4
Los Angeles 8–4 1–8 5–4 4–5 6–6 5–4 6–3 — 5–4 5–4 3–5 5–4 7–5 5–7 6–6 4–5 8–5
Milwaukee 3–6 2–7 6–6 5–6 7–4 9–0 2–9 4–5 — 6–3 1–8 4–5 6–5 3–6 5–4 3–8 8–6
Montreal 7–2 6–6 2–7 1–8 2–7 7–5 2–7 4–5 3–6 — 8–4 5–7 2–7 4–4 3–6 3–6 6–10
New York 5–4 3–9 5–4 6–3 6–3 7–5 4–5 5–3 8–1 4–8 — 8–4 4–5 4–5 4–5 6–3 9–7
Philadelphia 7-2 4–8 6–3 5–4 4–5 6–6 2–7 4–5 5–4 7–5 4–8 — 8–1 1–8 2–6 3–6 7–9
Pittsburgh 3–6 2–7 3–8 7–5 4–5 6–3 2–9 5–7 5–6 7–2 5–4 1–8 — 5–4 2–7 6–5 6–7
San Diego 9–3 4–5 4–5 11–1 7–5 5–4 4–5 7–5 6–3 4–4 5–4 8–1 4–5 — 8–4 6–3 6–7
San Francisco 7–5 2–7 3–7 7–2 5–7 9–0 3–6 6–6 4–5 6–3 5–4 6–2 7–2 4–8 — 7–5 8–5
St. Louis 7–2 3–6 7–4 3–8 6–3 5-4 7–5 5–4 8–3 6–3 3–6 6–3 5–6 3–6 5–7 — 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
Bold Astros team member
1998 Game Log
March/April (17–10)
# Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record Streak
1 March 31 Giants 4–9 0–1 L1
2 April 1 Giants 7–6 1–1 W1
3 April 2 Giants 2–9 1–2 L1
4 April 3 Rockies 15–2 2–2 W1
5 April 4 Rockies 3–5 2–3 L1
6 April 5 Rockies 6–2 3–3 W1
7 April 6 Rockies 13–4 4–3 W2
8 April 7 @ Giants 4–5 4–4 L1
9 April 8 @ Giants 6–3 5–4 W1
10 April 9 @ Giants 3–1 6–4 W2
11 April 10 @ Dodgers 2–7 6–5 L1
12 April 11 @ Dodgers 6–2 7–5 W1
13 April 12 @ Dodgers 6–7 7–6 L1
14 April 13 @ Dodgers 1–3 7–7 L2
15 April 15 @ Reds 1–4 7–8 L3
16 April 16 @ Reds 7–4 8–8 W1
17 April 17 Expos 5–3 9–8 W2
18 April 18 Expos 4–3 10–8 W3
19 April 19 Expos 4–5 10–9 L1
20 April 21 @ Mets 6–0 11–9 W1
21 April 22 @ Mets 7–10 11–10 L1
22 April 24 @ Expos 8–4 12–10 W1
23 April 25 @ Expos 4–3 13–10 W2
24 April 26 @ Expos 15–0 14–10 W3
25 April 27 @ Mets 4–3 15–10 W4
26 April 28 Mets 4–3 16–10 W5
27 April 29 Mets 6–1 17–10 W6
May (16–12)
# Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record Streak
28 May 1 @ Phillies 12–5 18–10 W7
29 May 2 @ Phillies 4–1 19–10 W8
30 May 3 @ Phillies 3–5 19–11 L1
31 May 5 @ Cubs 10–5 20–11 W1
32 May 6 @ Cubs 0–2 20–12 L1
33 May 8 @ Brewers 1–4 20–13 L2
34 May 9 @ Brewers 11–6 21–13 W1
35 May 10 @ Brewers 7–1 22–13 W2
36 May 11 Marlins 5–2 23–13 W3
37 May 12 Marlins 4–2 24–13 W4
38 May 13 Pirates 1–0 25–13 W5
39 May 14 Pirates 2–7 25–14 L1
40 May 15 Braves 2–3 25–15 L2
41 May 16 Braves 3–2 26–15 W1
42 May 17 Braves 8–1 27–15 W2
43 May 18 Braves 0–4 27–16 L1
44 May 19 @ Expos 2–4 27–17 L2
45 May 20 @ Expos 4–3 28–17 W1
46 May 21 @ Expos 6–0 29–17 W2
47 May 22 Padres 6–9 29–18 L1
48 May 23 Padres 4–3 30–18 W1
49 May 24 Padres 5–2 31–18 W2
50 May 25 Dodgers 3–4 31–19 L1
51 May 26 Dodgers 13–2 32–19 W1
52 May 27 Dodgers 1–3 32–20 L1
53 May 29 @ Rockies 7–6 33–20 W1
54 May 30 @ Rockies 3–6 33–21 L1
55 May 31 @ Rockies 57 33–22 L2
June (17–10)
# Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record Streak
56 June 2 @ Padres 4–3 34–22 W1 = 57 June 3 @ Padres 8–2 35–22 W2
58 June 4 @ Padres 1–5 35–23 L1
59 June 5 Royals 0–3 35–24 L2
60 June 6 Royals 6–0 36–24 W1
61 June 7 Royals 7–1 37–24 W2
62 June 8 @ Tigers 9–5 38–24 W3
63 June 9 @ Tigers 5–3 39–24 W4
64 June 10 @ Tigers 10–3 40–24 W5
65 June 12 @ Reds 1–8 40–25 L1
66 June 13 @ Reds 4–7 40–26 L2
67 June 14 @ Reds 6–3 41–26 W1
68 June 15 @ Reds 13–2 42–26 W2
69 June 16 Cardinals 4–9 42–27 L1
70 June 17 Cardinals 6–5 43–27 W1
71 June 18 Cardinals 6–7 43–28 L1
72 June 19 Reds 4–2 44–28 W1
73 June 20 Reds 9–8 45–28 W2
74 June 21 Reds 3–1 46–28 W3
75 June 22 Twins 3–5 46–29 L1
76 June 23 Twins 9–0 47–29 W1
77 June 24 @ Rockies 6–8 47–30 L1
78 June 25 @ Rockies 5–6 47–31 L2
79 June 26 @ Indians 2–4 47–32 L3
80 June 27 @ Indians 9–5 48–32 W1
81 June 28 @ Indians 12–3 49–32 W2
82 June 30 White Sox 17–2 50–32 W3
July (15–12)
# Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record Streak
83 July 1 White Sox 10–4 51–32 W4
84 July 2 White Sox 3–4 51–33 L1
85 July 3 Dbacks 6–5 52–33 W1
86 July 4 Dbacks 4–7 52–34 L1
87 July 5 Dbacks 5–2 53–34 W1
88 July 9 @ Cardinals 5–4 54–34 W2
89 July 10 @ Cardinals 3–6 54–35 L1
90 July 11 @ Cardinals 3–4 54–36 L2
91 July 12 @ Cardinals 4–6 54–37 L3
92 July 13 @ Dbacks 3–5 54–38 L4
93 July 14 @ Dbacks 4–2 55–38 W1
94 July 15 @ Dbacks 8–9 55–39 L1
95 July 17 Giants 10–7 56–39 W1
96 July 18 Giants 7–2 57–39 W2
97 July 19 Giants 4–3 58–39 W3
98 July 20 Rockies 10–9 59–39 W4
99 July 21 Rockies 0–5 59–40 L1
100 July 22 @ Dodgers 4–6 59–41 L2
101 July 23 @ Dodgers 8–6 60–41 W1
102 July 24 @ Padres 2–1 61–41 W2
103 July 25 @ Padres 5–6 61–42 L1
104 July 26 @ Padres 4–5 61–43 L2
105 July 27 Marlins 9–1 62–43 W1
106 July 28 Marlins 7–3 63–43 W2
107 July 29 Marlins 10–6 64–43 W3
108 July 30 Marlins 3–4 64–44 L1
109 July 31 @ Pirates 7–4 65–44 W1
August (22–7)
# Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record Streak
110 August 1 @ Pirates 2–1 66–44 W2
111 August 2 @ Pirates 6–2 67–44 W3
112 August 3 @ Marlins 3–11 67–45 L1
113 August 4 @ Marlins 9–5 68–45 W1
114 August 5 @ Marlins 3–5 68–46 L1
115 August 7 Phillies 9–0 69–46 W1
116 August 8 Phillies 7–6 70–46 W2
117 August 9 Phillies 11–2 71–46 W3
118 August 10 Brewers 5–2 72–46 W4
119 August 11 Brewers 6–5 73–46 W5
120 August 12 Brewers 3–0 74–46 W6
121 August 13 Brewers 6–2 75–46 W7
122 August 14 Cubs 4–6 75–47 L1
123 August 15 Cubs 5–4 76–47 W1
124 August 16 Cubs 1–2 76–48 L1
125 August 17 @ Phillies 0–4 76–49 L2
126 August 18 @ Phillies 8–2 77–49 W1
127 August 19 @ Phillies 4–3 78–49 W2
128 August 20 @ Brewers 5–6 78–50 L1
129 August 21 @ Brewers 5–2 79–50 W1
130 August 22 @ Cubs 8–3 80–50 W2
131 August 23 @ Cubs 13–3 81–50 W3
132 August 24 @ Cubs 12–3 82–50 W4
133 August 25 Braves 3–2 83–50 W5
134 August 26 Braves 2–6 83–51 L1
135 August 28 Pirates 2–0 84–51 W1
136 August 29 Pirates 6–3 85–51 W2
137 August 30 Pirates 11–4 86–51 W3
138 August 31 @ Braves 4–3 87–51 W4
August (15–9)
# Date Opponent Score Win Loss Save Attendance Record Streak
139 September 1 @ Braves 4–6 87–52 L1
140 September 2 @ Braves 4–2 88–52 W1
141 September 4 @ Dbacks 1–3 88–53 L1
142 September 5 @ Dbacks 6–5 89–53 W1
143 September 6 @ Dbacks 10–1 90–53 W2
144 September 7 Reds 1–0 91–53 W3
145 September 8 Reds 13–7 92–53 W4
146 September 9 Brewers 6–2 93–53 W5
147 September 10 Brewers 7–1 94–53 W6
148 September 11 Cardinals 8–2 95–53 W7
149 September 12 Cardinals 3–2 96–53 W8
150 September 13 Cardinals 2–3 96–54 L1
151 September 14 Mets 4–7 96–55 L2
152 September 15 Mets 6–5 97–55 W1
153 September 15 Mets 4–8 97–56 L1
154 September 16 Mets 3–4 97–57 L2
155 September 18 @ Pirates 5–2 98–57 W1
156 September 19 @ Pirates 1–7 98–58 L1
157 September 20 @ Pirates 2–0 99–58 W1
158 September 22 @ Cardinals 0–4 99–59 L1
159 September 23 @ Cardinals 7–1 100–59 W1
160 September 25 Cubs 6–2 101–59 W2
161 September 26 Cubs 2–3 101–60 L1
162 September 27 Cubs 4–3 102–60 W1

Roster[]

1998 Houston Astros
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager
  • 49 Larry Dierker

Coaches

Player stats[]

Batting[]

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

Pitching[]

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
1 Houston 1 San Diego 2 September 29 1-0 (SD)
2 Houston 5 San Diego 4 October 1 1-1
3 San Diego 2 Houston 1 October 3 2-1 (SD)
4 San Diego 6 Houston 1 October 4 3-1 (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.

External links[]

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