“It was like we were trying to find a way to lose a game,” said the utility man Marwin Gonzalez, a rookie in 2012. “You’d say sometimes in the morning, ‘Oh, I gotta go to the ballpark.’ It wasn’t fun.”

Outfielder Josh Reddick, then with the Athletics, remembers the opposite feeling when facing the Astros. Hitters, he said, seemed to race one another to the bat rack. It was going to be a good day.

But the Astros’ pitchers have evolved, too. They lead the majors in strikeouts, and their six most-used relievers each average at least 10 strikeouts per nine innings. Just one team has ever led the majors in strikeouts by its pitchers and fewest strikeouts by its hitters, according to Elias — the 1911 New York Giants.

The Astros, who were 10 games better than the next closest American League team entering Thursday night’s games, may soon become even stronger. The injured starters Dallas Keuchel, Charlie Morton and Collin McHugh should all be back within a month, and the Astros could push hard to add another starter before the July 31 nonwaiver trading deadline.

“Coming into spring, we understood we had a very balanced and very deep roster, and within that balance and depth, we were oozing with talent,” said Lance McCullers Jr., one of Houston’s starters. “I don’t know if you get that every year.”

The Astros did not quite have it in 2015, when they squeezed into the playoffs after a hot start and beat the Yankees in the wild-card game. That season, Houston ranked second in the majors in slugging, but also second in strikeouts.

“Power’s exciting, power sells tickets and power wins games, at times,” Luhnow said. “But power usually comes at the expense of rally-killing strikeouts in other instances. It’s not a satisfying brand of baseball, and I don’t think it’s a winning brand of baseball, necessarily, to have 30-home run hitters with 200 strikeouts a year.