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The Astros Major League team, however, continued to struggle. The Astros were eliminated from the playoffs in early September, and finished with the worst record in Major League Baseball (55-107). Their 2012 record surpassed their 2011 record as the worst in Houston Astros history.

Due to their moving to the American League at the 2013 season, the Astros debuted new navy blue and orange uniforms. They also debuted a new cap that features the classic white "H" over an orange star. On November 6, 2012, the Astros hired former Cleveland Indians director of baseball operations David Stearns as the team's new assistant general manager. The Astros would also go on to hire former St Louis Cardinals front office executive Jeff Luhnow as their general manager.

The Houston Astros won their first American League game on March 31, 2013 against the Texas Rangers. The score was 8–2. On September 29, the Astros completed their first year in the American League, losing 5−1 in a 14 inning game to the New York Yankees. The Astros finished the season with a 51−111 record (a franchise worst) with a season ending 15 game losing streak, again surpassing their worst record from last season. The team finished 45 games back out of the division winner Oakland Athletics, further adding to their futility. This marked three consecutive years that the Astros had lost more than 100 games in a single season. They also became the first team to have the first overall pick in the draft three years in a row. They improved on their season in 2014, going 70-92, finishing 28 games back over the division winner Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and placing fourth in the AL West over the Texas Rangers. After a slow start, the Astros took over first place in the AL West on April 19 and stayed there until shortly before the All-Star Break in mid-July. The Astros retook first place on July 29, but fell from first on September 15.

In September of 2015, four men died who had been closely associated with the team: Yogi Berra, Gene Elston, Milo Hamilton, and John McMullen. McMullen and Hamilton passed on the same Thursday, September 17, 2015, Elston on September 5th, and Berra on September 22. McMullen, after being a co-owner of the New York Yankees, purchased the Astros in 1979. He also brought Nolan Ryan to the Astros. In 1980, the Astros played the Philadelphia Phillies for the NL pennant with Gene Elston on the radio. In 1985, McMullen brought Yogi Berra in to be a bench coach for the new Astros manager Hal Lanier for the 1986 season, with Milo Hamilton on the radio.

As for the 2015 MLB season, the Houston Astros finished 86-76 (.531), and made the playoffs for the first time since 2005. Dallas Keuchel led the AL with 20 victories, going 15-0 at home, an MLB record. Key additions to the team included Scott Kazmir and SS Carlos Correa who hit 22 home runs, being called up in June 2015. 2B Jose Altuve picked up where he left off as the star of the Astros' offense. On July 30, the Astros picked up Mike Fiers and Carlos Gomez from the Milwaukee Brewers. Fiers threw the 11th no-hitter in Astros history on August 21st against the LA Dodgers. Houston got the final AL playoff spot and faced the Yankees in the Wild Card Game on October 6 at New York. They defeated the Yankees 3-0, but lost to the Kansas City Royals in the American League Division Series. The series went the full five games.

The Astros split the first two games of the ALDS best-of-five series in Kansas City. The Astros won the first game at Minute Maid to take a 2-1 lead in the ALDS. In game 4, after 7 innings, the Astros had a 6-2 lead. In the top half of the eighth inning, which took about 45 minutes to end, the Royals had taken 7-6 lead with a series of consecutive base hits. The Astros suffered a 9-6 loss and the 2015 ALDS was tied at 2-2. Then the 2015 ALDS went back to Kansas City, where the Royals clinched the series in the fifth game.