After 55 years of waiting, Houston Astros fans were hungry for World Series glory. After three consecutive 100-loss seasons, some tantalizing tastes of playoff success, and a devastating hurricane that united a community, their patience was rewarded in dramatic, exuberant fashion. In Liftoff! , Houston Chronicle writer Brian T. Smith expertly retraces the team's magical 2017 championship season as well as the moves and moments that made it all possible—the hiring of general manager Jeff Luhnow in 2011, drafting Carlos Correa with the first overall pick, the meteoric rise of Jose Altuve, the trade that brought ace Justin Verlander to Houston, and more. Featuring an unforgettable cast of characters both on the field and in the front office, this is the story of how the Astros went from empty seats to packed stadiums and, at long last, earned history. Brian T. Smith  is a sports columnist for the Houston Chronicle . He has won multiple Associated Press Sports Editors awards and been honored by numerous journalism organizations. Smith previously covered the NFL, MLB, and NBA as a beat writer. Liftoff! The Tank, The Storm, and the Astros' Improbable Ascent to Baseball Immortality By Brian T. Smith Triumph Books LLC Copyright © 2018 Brian T. Smith All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-62937-623-3 Contents Author's Note, Timeline — Countdown to Liftoff, 1. Here We Go, 2. This City Deserves Our Best, 3. Saving Our Powder, 4. The Underdog All Year, 5. We're a [Freaking] Playoff Team!, 6. Getting Into Our Window, 7. Opening Day Next Year, 8. When the Star Goes Up, 9. People Are Just Wooing, 10. It Will Bring Hope, 11. You Don't Even Know, Man, 12. I Got To Wake Up, 13. Bring Your Earplugs, 14. He Put Us On His Back, 15. If You Like October Baseball, 16. It's Your Time, 17. Forever Special, 18. Anything Is Possible, Acknowledgments, About the Author, Photo Gallery, CHAPTER 1 Here We Go It's a crazy journey, man. But I think I was the only one in 2011, '12, and '13, those hundred losses, three years in a row. It's not easy. But I kind of believed in the process. I believed in what Jeff Luhnow and Jim Crane used to talk to me, "Hey, we're going to be good. We're going to be good." Then, okay, let me keep working hard. Let me get better every year and try to be part of the winning team. — Astros second baseman José Altuve It is 2015, and they are tired of losing. Two managers have been fired. A team president has departed. Names are going to keep revolving, but a few players are actually going to stick around in Houston, and one of them wants more than this. Losing. Losing. Losing. Enough. José Altuve enters the office of the Astros' new manager. Altuve was never supposed to make it in major league baseball. Now he's one of the best hitters in the game. In three seasons, he will hit three home runs in a single playoff game, win the American League MVP award, and cement himself as the franchise face of a World Series winner. But in 2015? Altuve only wants to do the one thing he has never done in the majors: win. The manager who will soon become so close with and trusted by his players — who will guide the Astros to 101 victories and through two playoff Game 7s; loudest vote in the clubhouse, calmest heartbeat in the dugout — listens and immediately gets it. A.J. Hinch came to Houston to win. He became the Astros' next manager because the team had to stop losing. What Altuve has been feeling, Hinch already is, too. And soon the new manager will show the whole team the Astros' new world order. "When I got here no one talked about winning," Hinch said. "And that was one of the first things that Altuve told me in my office, that he wanted to win. And that represented what the next step was for this organization." It is 2017, just four years after the worst team in franchise history went 51–111. An unprecedented rebuild peaks in Game 7 of the World Series, during a Fall Classic that instantly becomes one of the best in the sport's history. Justin Verlander wanted to join the Astros. The Boston Red Sox have fallen, the New York Yankees went down, and the Los Angeles Dodgers could not match the Astros' heart. Houston's baseball team is saturated with young stars who will still be around the next season — the free-agency blues have not set in yet. The Astros now spend enough money to play the big game, but are also set up for years, and prime talent is still flowing through the pipeline. Many MLB clubs would do anything just to have Altuve in uniform. The Astros have Carlos Correa, George Springer, Alex Bregman, Altuve, and more. Houston is a baseball town again. Minute Maid Park has roared. And two winners share the same stage inside Dodger Stadium, answering constant questions about what it all feels like. "I always believed that we're going to become good," Altuve said. "Then I saw Springer get drafted, Correa and Bregman, and I was like, 'Okay, here we go.'" They were goin