by Charlie Martindale
21st century baseball has been in its awkward phase for a long time now. With the sport notoriously hungry for growth, everything from the rulebook to the rosters to rumors of expansion and relocation have caused the last few World Series’ to feel loose and unplanned. Late October and early November, the rare time of year when MLB might receive mention in the cloud of constant NFL and NBA stories, gives the greater sports world a few moments to ask why next year will hold so many new rules, why players who had just become the faces of franchises were traded, and why the Houston Astros, one of a handful of teams the wider world knows a thing or two about, are still so good.
Houston’s defeat of Philadelphia in six games last week brought an end to a month-long speedrun of dominance, with the Astros winning their second title in franchise history, and first that comes without a host of disagreement and outrage from the rest of the baseball world. Houston went 11-2 in the postseason, the second best record in modern baseball history, trailing only the 2005 White Sox, who swept Houston in that fall classic. Looking back on the 2022 season, it's hard to see anyone else winning the title.
Houston only had the 2nd best record in baseball, but their unflinching success against everyone from their weak AL West opposition, to the Cinderella story Mariners, to the formerly intimidating Yankees, to another team of destiny in the Phillies, was impressive to watch. There was zero challenge all season. The Astros moved through the American League like the Terminator, and, unlike 2019 and 2021, were able to finish the job against a surprise NL East opponent.
Baseball was still, though, filled with chaos this season in more ways than just what the commissioner’s office felt like cooking up. Teams like Seattle, the newly named Cleveland Guardians, a Padres team who finally slayed their goliath, and those same Phillies, made 2022 a year packed with unexpected moments. Ask one fan of each of the 30 teams, and all will probably have at least a few gripes and a few instances that defied reality, whether it be the lockout that started the season, the many clashes of old and new throughout, or the postseason that saw Houston, and essentially only Houston, play to their expected skill level. It says a lot when Tampa Bay making a fourth straight postseason, in a division loaded with killers, is a C-list story.
Among these stories were the upstart Baltimore Orioles, who won more games in ‘22 than their ‘20 and ‘21 teams combined for. Justin Verlander, at age 39 with an arm existing because of the magic of modern science, pitched the best season of his career which now spans across three decades. And, it would be hard to decide if the year’s best moment was Albert Pujols playing at All-Star levels in his 22nd MLB season, or Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani (both not yet 30), dueling for who could forge the most new history.
It ultimately was the Astros who put an end to all the fun, showing rudely to the world how easily the bad guys can win when they have the best development, smartest front office, and right owner, but if nothing else, MLB in 2022 was the sport reminding us veteran baseball fans, and maybe a few new ones, that only the chaotic and random can be relied on.