Astros wins second World Series title in six seasons, cement dynasty status
Mackenzie Salmon takes a look at how the Houston Astros won their second title in six seasons and cemented their status as baseball’s best team.
US TODAY
HOUSTON — For five years, they’ve restored a standard of excellence to Major League Baseball, making the World Series their near-annual playground but earning well-deserved off-field scorn and heartbreak on it.
But with a mighty punch from Yordan Alvarez – after a scandal, organizational turmoil, free-agent transitions and a maddening series of near misses – the Houston Astros returned to the summit of baseball on Saturday night, defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6, 4: 1 of the World Series and claimed her first championship since a now-tainted 2017 title.
This electronic sign theft scandal, uncovered two years after the Astros defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games, threatened to cast a controversial light on every move by the organization, and certainly its protagonists. That may always be the case for some.
But instead of getting angry at their critics or wallowing in guilt, the Astros simply got back to work on building and sustaining excellence.
And by winning only their second championship in franchise history, they left no doubt.
“Can’t say they didn’t mind,” Astros owner Jim Crane said of the sign theft scandal and its aftermath, “but they worked their way through and played hard and you pulled off a pretty spectacular result tonight. “
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The Astros won 11 of 13 games that postseason, joining the 2005 Chicago White Sox and 1999 New York Yankees (11-2 each) and ’98 Yankees (also 11-2) as the top teams in the wild Card era, a period in which the best teams were often held back by playoff chance, bad decisions, or bad luck.
These Astros and their beloved 73-year-old manager Dusty Baker, who finally clinched a World Series title as skipper on his third try, were just too good for it.
Left-hander Framber Valdez won his second game of the series, dominating the Phillies with one of the biggest curveballs of the game and a sinking fastball that kept the Phillies battered for most of the night. Valdez batted five straight batters with one point and nine overall, and his aggregate in Games 2 and 6 was nearly flawless: 13 ⅓ innings pitched, six hits, two runs earned and 18 strikeouts.
Even his only blemish in Game 6 — a first solo home run by Kyle Schwarber that started the sixth — merely set the stage for the greatest unique moment in Astros history.
With Phillies starter Zack Wheeler returning to ace status after a shaky Game 2, the Phillies’ 1-0 lead briefly raised hope that they could force a win in Game 7 on Sunday night. However, No. 9 hitter Martín Maldonado leaned forward a little and was hit by a wheeler pitch that marked the start of the sixth game. An out later, rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña, who quickly became the Astros’ most indomitable plate presence, pushed a single into midfield.
Alvarez hadn’t homed in 42 at-bats. Wheeler hadn’t allowed an extra base hit all night with just 73 pitches. And dominant left-back Jose Alvarado had collapsed at a similar, base-loaded spot in Game 4, hitting Alvarez with a pitch to force in the first heat of the game and allowing Alex Bregman a two-run double.
Doesn’t matter. Rookie Phillies manager Rob Thomson came out and took the ball from Wheeler and thanked him profusely for his efforts on the way out.
And then Alvarado headed a 2-1 sinker at 98 mph to Alvarez.
“You know, man,” Alvarado said, “sometimes I win, sometimes I take my hat off to the hitter. That’s the game.”
The Cuban slugger was just 5 for 42 since hitting two go-ahead homers in the AL Division Series. But Alvarado’s pitch stood tall as a grapefruit and Alvarez destroyed it – 450 feet in a straight line to dead midfield, soared over the fence, over the artificial green hitting the backing, into a merry phalanx of celebrating Astros fans at one standing room deck only.
A group of Astros rushed the apron of the dugout. Center fielder Chas McCormick was in the tunnel, too nervous to watch and with a towel over his head, but came out dizzy, in awe of Alvarez’s blast.
“He’s the best slugger in the world,” McCormick says of Alvarez. “Nobody hits home runs into midfield. He hit it over the backstop.”
It was 3-1. Nine outs away. And this postseason is all but over.
You see, the Astros bullpen pulled off the most dominant playoff run in history and Saturday seemed like a mere formality as the same protagonists who helped finish a combined no-hitter in Game 4 – Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly, along with Hector Neris – covered the last four innings with ease. The unit finished the playoffs with an .81 ERA topped by another save from Ryan Pressly, who pulled Nick Castellanos back into foul territory in right field with a flyball to unleash havoc in H-Town.
“We’re evil,” says Pressly, who saved Games 5 and 6 and didn’t allow a deserved run in 5 2/3 World Series innings.
It had only been five years since they’d celebrated like this, after the seventh game at Dodger Stadium. The interim has been rocky and enlightening, with a new GM and manager, and years of boos for hangovers like Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman.
A trio of new heroes emerged on Saturday night. And now they’re all – Astros old and new, involved and innocent – are undeniable champions.
“Every single person has put in so much work. Every single person believed in it,” said third baseman Alex Bregman, one of five holdovers from the 2017 team.
“I’m just so grateful and proud to be a part of this ball club.”