# 1968 Houston Astros season

The 1968 Houston Astros season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Astros finishing in tenth place in the National League, with a record of 72–90, 25 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. The Astros also hosted the 1968 MLB All-Star Game at the Astrodome, with the NL defeating the AL, 1–0.

## Offseason

* October 17, 1967: Bob Lillis was released by the Astros.
* October 25, 1967: César Cedeño was signed as an amateur free agent by the Astros.
* November 28, 1967: Doc Edwards was drafted from the Astros by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1967 minor league draft.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 97 | 65 | .599 | — | 47‍–‍34 | 50‍–‍31 |
| San Francisco Giants | 88 | 74 | .543 | 9 | 42‍–‍39 | 46‍–‍35 |
| Chicago Cubs | 84 | 78 | .519 | 13 | 47‍–‍34 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 83 | 79 | .512 | 14 | 40‍–‍41 | 43‍–‍38 |
| Atlanta Braves | 81 | 81 | .500 | 16 | 41‍–‍40 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 80 | 82 | .494 | 17 | 40‍–‍41 | 40‍–‍41 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 76 | 86 | .469 | 21 | 41‍–‍40 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 76 | 86 | .469 | 21 | 38‍–‍43 | 38‍–‍43 |
| New York Mets | 73 | 89 | .451 | 24 | 32‍–‍49 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Houston Astros | 72 | 90 | .444 | 25 | 42‍–‍39 | 30‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1968 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | HOU | LAD | NYM | PHI | PIT | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 8–10 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 12–6–1 | 11–7 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 5–13 |
| Chicago | 10–8 | — | 7–11 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 9–9–1 | 9–9 |
| Cincinnati | 8–10 | 11–7 | — | 9–9 | 9–9 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 10–8–1 | 8–10 | 7–11 |
| Houston | 7–11 | 8–10 | 9–9 | — | 11–7 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 5–13 | 8–10 | 5–13 |
| Los Angeles | 9–9 | 6–12 | 9–9 | 7–11 | — | 7–11 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 9–9 |
| New York | 6–12–1 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 8–10 | 11–7 | — | 8–10 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 6–12 |
| Philadelphia | 7–11 | 9–9 | 7–11 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 10–8 | — | 9–9 | 9–9 | 8–10 |
| Pittsburgh | 12–6 | 8–10 | 8–10–1 | 13–5 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 9–9 | — | 7–11 | 6–12 |
| San Francisco | 9–9 | 9–9–1 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 9–9 | 11–7 | — | 10–8 |
| St. Louis | 13–5 | 9–9 | 11–7 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 12–6 | 10–8 | 12–6 | 8–10 | — |

### Notable transactions

* May 4, 1968: Aaron Pointer was traded by the Astros to the Chicago Cubs for Byron Browne.
* June 8, 1968: Larry Yount was drafted by the Astros in the 5th round of the 1968 Major League Baseball draft.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | John Bateman | 111 | 350 | 87 | .249 | 4 | 33 |
| 1B | Rusty Staub | 161 | 591 | 172 | .291 | 6 | 72 |
| 2B | Denis Menke | 150 | 542 | 135 | .249 | 6 | 56 |
| SS | Héctor Torres | 128 | 466 | 104 | .223 | 1 | 24 |
| 3B | Doug Rader | 98 | 333 | 89 | .267 | 6 | 43 |
| LF | Bob Watson | 45 | 140 | 32 | .229 | 2 | 8 |
| CF | Jimmy Wynn | 156 | 542 | 146 | .269 | 26 | 67 |
| RF | Norm Miller | 79 | 257 | 61 | .237 | 6 | 28 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Bob Aspromonte | 124 | 409 | 92 | .225 | 1 | 46 |
| Ron Davis | 52 | 217 | 46 | .212 | 1 | 12 |
| Lee Thomas | 90 | 201 | 39 | .194 | 1 | 11 |
| Dick Simpson | 59 | 177 | 33 | .186 | 3 | 11 |
| Julio Gotay | 75 | 165 | 41 | .248 | 1 | 11 |
| Dave Adlesh | 40 | 104 | 19 | .183 | 0 | 4 |
| José Herrera | 27 | 100 | 24 | .240 | 0 | 7 |
| Ron Brand | 43 | 81 | 13 | .160 | 0 | 4 |
| Ivan Murrell | 32 | 59 | 6 | .102 | 0 | 3 |
| Hal King | 27 | 55 | 8 | .145 | 0 | 2 |
| Nate Colbert | 20 | 53 | 8 | .151 | 0 | 4 |
| Leon McFadden | 16 | 47 | 13 | .277 | 0 | 1 |
| Joe Morgan | 10 | 20 | 5 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
| Byron Browne | 10 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 0 | 1 |
| John Mayberry | 4 | 9 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Danny Walton | 2 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Dave Giusti | 37 | 251.0 | 11 | 14 | 3.19 | 186 |
| Larry Dierker | 32 | 233.2 | 12 | 15 | 3.31 | 161 |
| Denny Lemaster | 33 | 224.0 | 10 | 15 | 2.81 | 146 |
| Don Wilson | 33 | 208.2 | 13 | 16 | 3.28 | 175 |
| Mike Cuellar | 28 | 170.2 | 8 | 11 | 2.74 | 133 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Steve Shea | 30 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 3.38 | 15 |
| Tom Dukes | 43 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4.27 | 37 |
| Jim Ray | 41 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2.67 | 71 |
| Danny Coombs | 40 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3.28 | 29 |
| John Buzhardt | 39 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3.12 | 37 |
| Wade Blasingame | 22 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4.75 | 22 |
| Pat House | 18 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7.71 | 6 |
| Fred Gladding | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14.54 | 2 |
| Hal Gilson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.36 | 1 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Oklahoma City 89ers | Pacific Coast League | Cot Deal |
| AA | Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs | Texas League | Hub Kittle |
| A | Greensboro Patriots | Carolina League | Brandy Davis |
| A | Cocoa Astros | Florida State League | Tony Pacheco and Leo Posada |
| Rookie | Covington Astros | Appalachian League | Tony Pacheco |