2009 MLB season in review: Houston Astros

This is a team with a lot of issues. They have a lot of payroll tied up in aging players, their farm system is depleted, and they played so poorly in 2009 they got their manager fired. Cecil Cooper was let go with two weeks left in the regular season, but the Astros are looking to find some direction. With one great hitter, and a bunch of really good hitters this is a team that needs to add some pieces for 2010, but with a bare farm system it will be hard to trade, which means this team would have to find talent on the free agent market meaning the payroll is going to have to go up if they want to improve.

Their final record was 74-88, trending downward from their finish in 2008. In the final week of the season they were 14 games under .500. With a strong finish, they were able to cut that to finish 7 games under .500. It was a pretty long season for the Astros as they spent just two days in first place, and they never held that distinction by themselves. At their lowest point, they were 18.5 games behind first, and finished 17 full games out of the lead in their division.

While they suffered through a brutal season, the Astros were able to win only four games in row, while they went out and lost 9 straight games in the final two weeks of September. A team that featured, Lance Berkman was only able to score 63 runs, while their pitching staff gave up 770. Their pitching rotation featured only one pitcher with double digit victories and their team ERA was 4.54. Offensively they hit .260 as a team, and hit 142 home runs.

In all 2,521,076 fans came to see Houston Astros games at Minute Maid park. For their 81 home games they averaged 31,124 fans and they were able to sell 76% of their 2009 ticket inventory. Those numbers were good enough for 13th in the MLB, and ninth in the National League.