Certainly this was the plan a few years ago for the Houston Astros, when they were deliberately diving to the bottom of Major League Baseball.
Today they have the best record in MLB, a mere four years after losing 111 games at the tail end of their purposeful deconstruction.
Still, it is an amazing feat, not just because a start-from-scratch plan is actually working, but because they are the Astros.
Since their first year of existence in 1962, Houston have been one of the game’s great mediocrities, rarely posing a threat to anyone who would step over them.
Their less-than-storied history boasts an overall winning percentage of .489.
The team have reached the post-season 10 times in 55 seasons. Houston have appeared in, and lost, one World Series, in 2005.
Within a few years, management embarked on a burn-down-the-house strategy that incensed much of the baseball universe for their total disinterest in winning.
The Astros slashed their payroll, stocked their roster with unprepared prospects and gambled that the high draft picks they were collecting would pay off.
They would not be where they are today if first-round selections George Springer (2011), Carlos Correa (2012) and Alex Bregman (2015) were playing somewhere else.
Today’s renaissance, though, came with a cost: non-competitive carnage that included three consecutive 100-plus-loss seasons from 2011-13.
When MLB re-aligned divisions before the 2013 season, and balanced the American and National Leagues at 15 teams apiece, the Astros were picked to switch from the NL to the AL.
There was little objection, even in Houston, where people were hiding their eyes from baseball. Attendance dropped from a franchise-high average 38,122 people per game in 2004 to 19,849 in 2012.
Even today, Astros fans have not recovered as quickly as the team. Minute Maid Park crowds are averaging 28,144.
Too bad, since the Astros are an exciting bunch.
Right fielder Springer is having a breakout year batting lead-off with 16 home runs, 43 runs and 38 runs batted in.
The middle infield combination of Jose Altuve (25 extra base hits, .393 on-base percentage and 11 stolen bases) and Correa (11 home runs, 39 RBI, .388 OBP) is the gold standard.
Veterans Carlos Beltran, at designated hitter, and catcher Brian McCann, both acquired in trades with the New York Yankees, have provided some emotional stability.
Pitching ace Dallas Keuchel has been better than in his Cy Young Award year, 2015, when he helped Houston to their first post-season in 10 years.
The left-hander is 9-0 with a 1.67 earned-run average.
As a whole, the pitching staff has a 3.59 ERA, second in MLB, surprising because Houston play their home games in a hitter-friendly park.
Not surprisingly, the Astros have scored more runs than anyone.
This storm of talent put together a recent 11-game winning streak. Their 43-18 record is good for a dozen-game lead in the AL West and puts them on a near-record 114-win pace.
McCann recently told Yahoo Sports that he admired Houston’s gifted players, even before he arrived.
“Then you see their ethic, and how great they want to be,” said McCann. “It’s very scary.”
Some baseball analysts are casting them as the best in the game, and there is no doubt the team’s rise from worst-to-first has been impressive.
But becoming competitive again is not an unheard of trick, as teams in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Colorado can attest.
Those examples make you wonder if Houston’s total tank job was necessary.
In any case, there remains that 56-years-and-counting matter, winning the franchise’s first World Series.
Maybe that will better cover the cynical scent still wafting from 2013.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on twitter at @NatSportUAE
Day 5, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day When Dilruwan Perera dismissed Yasir Shah to end Pakistan’s limp resistance, the Sri Lankans charged around the field with the fevered delirium of a side not used to winning. Trouble was, they had not. The delivery was deemed a no ball. Sri Lanka had a nervy wait, but it was merely a stay of execution for the beleaguered hosts.
Stat of the day – 5 Pakistan have lost all 10 wickets on the fifth day of a Test five times since the start of 2016. It is an alarming departure for a side who had apparently erased regular collapses from their resume. “The only thing I can say, it’s not a mitigating excuse at all, but that’s a young batting line up, obviously trying to find their way,” said Mickey Arthur, Pakistan’s coach.
The verdict Test matches in the UAE are known for speeding up on the last two days, but this was extreme. The first two innings of this Test took 11 sessions to complete. The remaining two were done in less than four. The nature of Pakistan’s capitulation at the end showed just how difficult the transition is going to be in the post Misbah-ul-Haq era.
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TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
Company%20Profile
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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The lowdown
Badla
Rating: 2.5/5
Produced by: Red Chillies, Azure Entertainment
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Amrita Singh, Tony Luke
Women’s World T20, Asia Qualifier
UAE results
Beat China by 16 runs
Lost to Thailand by 10 wickets
Beat Nepal by five runs
Beat Hong Kong by eight wickets
Beat Malaysia by 34 runs
Standings (P, W, l, NR, points)
1. Thailand 5 4 0 1 9
2. UAE 5 4 1 0 8
3. Nepal 5 2 1 2 6
4. Hong Kong 5 2 2 1 5
5. Malaysia 5 1 4 0 2
6. China 5 0 5 0 0
Final
Thailand v UAE, Monday, 7am
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
EXPATS
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
