The day after the Was there any doubt that we’d end up here? Seven straight LCS appearances for the Astros, extending their AL record and moving within one of the MLB mark set by the 1990s Braves. There was nothing dramatic about it, not this time. If anything, it was heading the Twins off in every moment that could have created a series-altering event. But the Astros just keep going. It’s something close to inevitability.
This time, the Astros have employed the simplest formula for winning in the postseason — power on offense and power relief on the other side of the ball. The Astros hit 10 homers over the four games and 80% of their scoring against Minnesota came via the long ball.
Meanwhile, manager Dusty Baker’s bullpen is idea for this time of year. The stuff is vicious and it comes from several sources in a deep unit. Bryan Abreu, Ryan Pressly, Hector Neris and Phil Maton complement each other well, shorten games and are rolling just when they need to be. And the Astros’ rotation, in the playoff schedule format, doesn’t need games to be shortened much. Not even an appearance by Byron Buxton could upend the inexorable Astros. — Bradford Doolittle
What’s next for the Astros? Now we have an ALCS that would once have seemed like a fever dream for a baseball-loving Texas fan. Houston set itself up nicely by halting the Twins in four because now Justin Verlander is lined up for the first game of the ALCS. On the other hand, the Astros may come to regret edging the Rangers in the regular-season division race because the Astros’ season-long tendency of playing better away from Minute Maid Park continued in this series.
So after a labyrinthine journey, unlike any of the Astros’ other deep runs, we’re right back at the same place, the same time of the year. But with the Rangers coming down I-45, this matchup is going to feel different.
