We all know everything that has happened to the Astros over the past six years, sign-stealing and firings and fines that cast a shadow over arguably the best baseball team of the current era. So much has happened in Houston. So much of the way baseball fans look at a team that has played in three World Series since 2017 -- and might be on its way to a fourth -- has changed.

What has not changed is this:

Jose Altuve remains as great a small player (5-foot-6, maybe) as the game has ever seen, and one of the great players of his time.

Altuve is still leading off for the Astros, he is likely on his way to another All-Star Game start -- his eighth ASG appearance overall -- and he is still on his way to the Hall of Fame. The late Joe Morgan, at 5-foot-7, another immortal second baseman who started his career in Houston, made it to Cooperstown. Altuve, who just turned 32, will join him there someday.

Yankees fans will always be certain Altuve knew what pitch from Aroldis Chapman was coming when he hit the walk-off home run that won the 2019 American League Championship Series. But even the most passionate fans have a hard time explaining why Altuve has so often gotten the best of the Yankees in the years since.

Last weekend, in a four-game series that looked and felt more like October than June, Altuve hit two more home runs, performing well no matter how loudly he was booed at Yankee Stadium.

George Springer is gone from the Astros. Carlos Correa is gone, too. So is Gerrit Cole. Altuve is still right there. The Astros don’t have the best record in baseball; that distinction belongs to the Yankees. But the Astros might turn out to be the top team in the league by the time October does roll around. As usual, all signs point to the top of the batting order. Pun intended.

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch managed Altuve in his AL Most Valuable Player season in 2017. Here is what Hinch told me the other day:

“Jose is a great player. His bat-to-ball skills are incredible, and he’s really refined his approach throughout the years. He isn’t afraid to hit early or late in counts. He can also be a bad-ball hitter, so he covers a lot of area in and around the strike zone. He really is an incredible offensive player.”

Altuve is an incredible player, has been one and will continue to be one if he is blessed with good health. He leads baseball in hits since his first full season of 2012 -- 1,778 through Friday’s games. Freddie Freeman is second to Altuve over this span, but is 148 hits behind. In addition to everything else, as my guy John Labombarda of the Elias Sports Bureau points out, Altuve has been a modern-day ironman over this decade, playing 90 percent of the Astros' games.

In addition, he has led the AL in hits four times, won three batting titles and led the league in stolen bases twice. These are all big numbers for anybody. They just look so much bigger when you are 5-foot-6.

Then come all the postseason add-ons: Altuve has hit 23 postseason home runs, which is second most in MLB history behind Manny Ramirez's 29. His postseason slugging percentage -- .547 -- is 83 points higher than what Altuve has produced in the regular season. Since that walk-off homer against Chapman and the Yankees, the one that may get him booed by Yankees fans forever, it is worth pointing out that Altuve has hit 10 more postseason home runs and that his team made it to Game 7 of the ALCS against the Rays in 2020 and to Game 6 of the World Series last season against the Braves.

Here is what Altuve said about Yankees fans and what he hears at the Stadium:

"They really get into the game. That’s the kind of people that they are. I do my best to focus on the game every day, no matter who we are playing. We have a good group of guys that deserve my full concentration in the game. I try to help them to win. That’s what I do, no matter who we play.”

I always go back to something Altuve told me one Spring Training morning in West Palm Beach, Fla., a few years ago.

“I never doubted myself. Never,” Altuve said. “Never doubted what I could do. It didn't matter to me how tall I was. I just wanted to be great."

Only Yordan Alvarez (23) has hit more home runs than Altuve’s 15 for the Astros so far this season. Altuve is on track to be an All-Star yet again. If he does make it to Dodger Stadium on July 19, of course he’ll be the smallest guy in the game. Nothing changes there, either, for the great Jose Altuve.