One thing I heard growing up from my other relatives, family, and friends was that I was spoiled. Being the first-born child actually comes with some perks, but I digress. Houstonians over the last three years must feel like spoiled kids when it comes to the Astros because they have become accustomed to the team being in first place come this time of the year.

The Astros are the hottest team in Major League Baseball right now and are in prime contention to live up to their 2019 mantra, “Take It Back.” After coming up short last year to the Boston Red Sox in the 2018 ALDS, Houston is on somewhat of a revenge tour this year and the rest of the league is taking notice.

"If you watched the last two games, it is pretty obvious that's a really good team," said Tigers outfielder Nicholas Castellanos after being routed 11-4 by the Astros at home on Tuesday.

One reason the Astros have been so hot lately is due to the bat of George Springer who has over 25 extra base hits to start the season. He was named AL Player of the Week after hitting .519, two doubles and five home runs last week. Against the aforementioned Detroit Tigers, Springer accomplished another feat by hitting an inside the park home run.

"You can hit one to dead center field here and maybe have a chance to do a lot of funny things," Astros manager AJ Hinch said about Springer’s homer. "Pretty exciting play. We don't get to see it a lot, obviously, in our ballpark, but it's fun when it happens for us."

Although Houston leads the MLB in a lot of offensive statistical categories (hitting, on-base percentage, and slugging), their dominance starts on the mound.

Starting right-hand pitcher Gerrit Cole leads the Majors in strikeouts (86) and strikeout per 9 IP ratio (13.90) through his 9 starts including a season-high 12 strikeouts in a game against the Rangers at Minute Maid Park. He has recorded double-digit strikeouts five times this season and 9 or more strikeouts in 7 starts.

One key component to any team winning the World Series is having a strong bullpen to close out games and the Astros have a very dominant one.

Set-up man Ryan Pressly is riding a franchise record scoreless streak of 36.0 innings, which spans his last 37 games and dates back to Aug. 15 of last season. Per Elias, the last Major League reliever to post a streak of 36-plus scoreless innings was Craig Kimbrel (37.2IP) back in 2011 for the Braves. The Major League record for consecutive scoreless appearances is also held by Kimbrel (Elias).

Closer Roberto Osuna is 10-for-10 in save chances this season and has converted 22 straight save chances as an Astro, which ties as the second-longest of such a streak in franchise history, along with a 22-save run by Billy Wagner in 2003 and Brad Lidge who owns the franchise record, a 24-save streak, set in 2005.

Currently, the Astros have a 5-plus game lead in the AL West. The last time they had such a commanding lead in the division was 2017 which ironically is the last time they won it all. Excuse us Houstonians if we have just become accustomed to the finer things in life such as World Series trophies.