ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – They’re not the team that won the last World Series. Not anymore. They’re not the team that rode the parade floats. They’re not the team that showed up everywhere from Saturday Night Live to Mickey Mouse’s castle. Not anymore.



But 16 months after the tickertape floated through the Texas sky, the 2019 edition of the Houston Astros still have those World Series memories. Still have those made-for-October arms, still have one of baseball’s most magnetic lineups. And now these men have something else.



They play baseball in a city that has long been the home of Mission Control. Now it’s the baseball team from Houston that is on a mission:



To remind the world of what they were, and what they’re built to be again.



It may have been the Red Sox that won the last World Series, and sent the Astros home last October. But who is really the best team in baseball — right here, right now?