Iowa Team Brings Home Midwest League Title

Why are the Houston Astros having such incredible success in the major leagues these days? Look east, my friend.

The Quad Cities River Bandits, who eliminated the Cedar Rapids Kernels in a best of three series last week (Q.C. won the series 2-1), completed a 3-game sweep of Fort Wayne Saturday night. It marks the River Bandits third Midwest League title in the last seven years.

Quad Cities outscored Fort Wayne 23 to 5 in the series. A dominating performance from a team that's helping turn their parent club, the Houston Astros, into one of the best franchises in baseball.

The Houston Astros are 90-58 this season, leading the American League West Division by 14 games. They have the A.L.'s second-best record to the Cleveland Indians, who just had their 22-game winning streak (the second-longest in major league history) ended Friday night.

In 2014, Houston finished 22 games under .500. The next two seasons saw them finish over .500. This year, a long playoff run looks very possible thanks in no small part to a starting pitcher and two everyday starters, who saw considerable action in Davenport earlier this decade.

[via ESPN, MLB.com, Google, MLB.com, Google, MLB.com, and Google]