The 2017 Astros shattered the Sports Illustrated cover curse

Chris Cwik
·Staff writer

The 2017 World Series will be remembered for a lot of things: Absolutely bonkers comeback victories in Game 2 and Game 5, José Altuve finally winning after enduring 100+ losses early in his career and the Houston Astros winning their first-ever World Series championship.

If you’re an Astros fan, those things probably stand out more than others. But if you’re not an Astros fan, then you might realize the team broke an even bigger (we’re possibly exaggerating) curse Wednesday night.

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With the team’s 5-1 win in Game 7 to win the World Series, the Astros broke the Sports Illustrated cover curse. Oh, and you already know the best part … the magazine predicted it would happen int 2014:

That is 100 percent real. Back in 2014, Sports Illustrated ran a cover that features the Astros and the phrase “Your 2017 World Series Champs.” The Astros were coming off a season in which they lost 111 games.

The cover was mostly mocked at the time. While the Astros had a clear plan to rebuild, it was tough to believe a club coming off three straight seasons with at least 100 losses would be decent again anytime soon.

The Astros are World Series champions. (AP)
The Astros are World Series champions. (AP)

But some analysts, like author of the piece Ben Reiter, saw what the team was doing behind the scenes. The club truly tanked in order to get higher draft picks. The Astros were putrid then, but believed it would pay off. A bigger focus on data was implemented in the organization. There was a lot of work to be done, but at least the Astros finally had a direction.

Many outlets covered that story as the Astros made their charge to the World Series this season. It required plenty of forethought, and even if some luck was involved, you have to tip your cap to Sports Illustrated for nailing this one. They even nailed the MVP by putting George Springer on the cover. Not bad.

Oh, and what about that 2016 issue announcing they took back the 2017 prediction and thought the Astros would win a year earlier than they initially said?

SI walked back that 2017 prediction, but who cares? (SI.com Screenshot)
SI walked back that 2017 prediction, but who cares? (SI.com Screenshot)

Yeah, forget that ever happened. They won anyway, so it hardly matters now.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik