Astros Clinch Third World Series Appearance in Five Years; First Since Scandal Broke
- Stros Talk
- Oct 22, 2021
- 4 min read
Gordon Liang
10/22/2021
“Believe me. In the end of the year, everything will be fine. We’re gonna be in the World Series again,” said a seemingly rattled Jose Altuve as he fielded questions from the public in 2019 about the biggest story in baseball history.
The 2017 sign stealing scandal left fans all over the sport doubting the talent of the Houston Astros. Their sole title, while still officially intact, no longer held any weight in the hearts of non-Houstonian fans. As if their ace at the time didn’t already have 324 million reasons to leave, Gerrit Cole was now sure to flee the hurricane of hate headed to Minute Maid Park. Speaking of storms, the perfect one had to brew to knock down your 2019 American League Champions and brew it did. Boy, did it ever.
Altuve had the worst of it. With the legitimacy of their last four seasons hanging over his shoulder, he had something to prove. It didn’t help that a global pandemic reduced his redemption campaign to 60 games. In a shortened season full of isolation, Altuve slashed a measly .219/.286/.344. Many stars including the two 2019 MVP favorites Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich struggled in the abridged season but they weren’t on public trial. Altuve was and compared to his career .315/.364/.463 slashline, he didn’t make the most appealing argument for his innocence.
The 2020 Astros went 29-31 on their redemption tour. Their Cy Young winner was out after one start. Their young slugger Yordan Alvarez was gone after two games. Their offense posted their lowest wRC+ since 2014 (the Astros posted a 98 wRC+ in both years). The Astros hadn’t fallen below league average in any other season since 2014. In a normal season, the Astros would’ve had over 102 games to make up for their slow start like the 2019 Washington Nationals did. But this wasn't any normal season. It was a shortened season. It was an injury-riddled season. It was a perfect storm.
Despite everything, and everyone for that matter, in the world going against them, the Astros kept their heads up. They knew who they were and when the world started to return to normal, so did the best offense in baseball. They didn’t make it to the World Series in 2020 like Altuve assured, but two years later, Altuve’s promise is coming true.
The game wasn’t pretty. At times, it felt like one of the slowest sports in America was going too fast to process. Michael Brantley grounded to Kyle Schwarber in the fifth for a fielder’s choice but it wasn’t as simple as that. Schwarber’s throw was wide and nearly pulled third baseman Rafael Devers off the base. At that point, it seemed like that was the only play possible and it was. At least everyone but Devers thought so. He proceeded to throw to first in an attempt to get a second out and the throw almost eluded the glove of two fielders.
Later on, Kyle Tucker lined into a double play that scored slugger Yordan Alvarez from third base. Again the ball went to Schwarber and again, the people weren’t sure what was going on. Did Schwarber catch it? Did he not? Carlos Correa didn’t know as he retreated to first base when he should’ve ran to second. Alvarez sprinted for home and when the dust settled, we realized that he was a second away from running into a triple play. Instead, he scored the second run of the game. As if he got paid by Wendy’s, Alvarez proceeded to go four for four and is the favorite to win ALCS MVP.
Alvarez had himself a great game and a masterful series but the hero and story in game six was Luis Garcia. After exiting game two after one inning, many questioned his availability for the rest of the series (and the rest of the season as players removed from the roster are ineligible for the following series). Six days removed from his nightmare of a start, Garcia led the Astros to the series that he was almost ineligible to play in. He pitched masterfully, holding the Red Sox to one lone hit in five and two-third innings pitched. The hit came on a two-out triple by Enrique Hernandez. Phil Maton stranded him on one pitch with Devers popping up to end the sixth.
Kendall Graveman has been a huge variable since the Abraham Toro grand slam. He started his night beautifully with a strikeout of Xander Bogaerts. However, after allowing the next two hitters to reach, he found himself facing Travis Shaw, who almost took him deep a week before, as the potential go ahead run. After falling behind 3-1 to Shaw, no fan in Houston was comfortable. Graveman threw a changeup to catch the outside edge of the zone to bring the count full and then the tide flipped as drastically as tides can. Graveman threw a 3-2 fastball that caught Shaw whiffing and Alex Verdugo decided that he didn’t want to be on base as he did what no wise man does: try to run on the Machete. Martin Maldonado yanked an absolute dime to Correa and Verdugo was out on a strike ‘em out throw ‘em out double play to end the threat.
Tucker essentially sealed the deal on a two-out three-run homerun that just reached the Crawford Boxes. Ryan Pressly officially sealed the deal and the Houston Astros are once again, your American League champions.
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