1998 Houston Astros

While the 2004-2005 seasons may stand out as the most successful in Astros history because of the late playoff runs those teams made, the 1998 Astros stands out as the best overall team. In the midst of prime Bagwell-Biggio seasons, with Moises Alou, Carl Everett, and Derek Bell forming a lethal outfield, the Astros offense was potent. And in 1998, after trading for eventual Hall of Famer Randy Johnson, the Astros starting rotation was incredibly lethal as well. Johnson would go 10-1 with a 1.28 ERA in his 11 starts for Houston, leading a Houston pitching staff that had a remarkable 3.50 team ERA while playing in the same division as HR titans Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa!

Houston won a franchise record 102 games and the NL Central by 12 games. Unfortunately, they were unceremoniously bounced by an inferior (and soon coming) Padres team in the NLDS. They would lose Randy Johnson to the upstart Diamondbacks during the offseason and (despite making the '99 playoffs) would never be quite as lethal as that 98 team again.