The Houston Astros Reminded Everyone Why They’re the Reigning Champs

The Astros are too talented and too experienced to quietly disappear in the postseason. And they don’t care that the ALCS odds still favor the Texas Rangers.

Sometimes this postseason, it has felt like the Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillies are engaged in a game of one-upmanship about who can race to the World Series in the fastest, most dominant fashion. Both teams swept the wild-card round and handled their league’s top seed in the division series with relative ease. In the league championship round, there had been dueling victories for each in the first two games, with the Phillies putting up a historic run differential while the Rangers extended their undefeated streak going into Game 3 of the ALCS.

But the Houston Astros reminded baseball on Wednesday why they are the reigning champions. Powered by the usual strong playoff pitching of Cristian Javier and an offense that spoiled Max Scherzer’s comeback — then answered the Rangers at every turn later on — the Astros pulled off an 8-5 victory and staved off a 3-0 deficit. 

Javier has had better starts in the postseason than his outing in Game 3, but that fact alone speaks to his underrated quality as a clutch pitcher over the past few years. He currently ranks sixth in career ERA among pitchers with at least 10 games and 40 innings in the playoffs, better even than legendary playoff performer Madison Bumgarner:

On Wednesday, Javier got an early lead and was mostly efficient through the Rangers’ order — facing just one batter over the minimum until the fifth inning, when he gave up a bloop and a blast. He settled down to finish that inning and retire the first two batters of the next, before needing Hector Neris in relief and a fabulous run-saving catch by Michael Brantley to keep him from being charged with more runs. But given that this Texas offense is scoring 5.5 runs per game this postseason, Javier’s typical businesslike navigation of their lineup was exactly what the Astros needed.

It helped that Scherzer was not his usual self in Game 3, giving up five runs (all earned) in four innings before exiting the game. Coming back from a shoulder injury, it was Scherzer’s first appearance since Sept. 12, and there is already plenty of second-guessing around whether he rushed back too soon, or if Rangers manager Bruce Bochy should have put him in that spot.

(To the contrary, I would contend that was the perfect spot to give him a look, as Texas’ 2-0 lead mitigated some of the pressure for Scherzer to come back and immediately be great. Also, Bochy knows a thing or two about managing in the playoffs, so maybe he should get the benefit of the doubt here.)

But as shaky as Scherzer was, it’s also just really difficult to beat this Astros team three times in a row in the postseason. Since their ALCS streak began in 2017, there have been 12 instances where Houston went into a playoff game having lost back-to-back contests. In those games, Houston is 8-4 overall, including winning seven of their past eight; the Astros haven’t lost three straight in the postseason since Game 3 of the 2020 ALCS — and even there, they proceeded to win three straight to force a Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

You don’t go to all of those league championship series and World Series in a row by piling up big postseason losing streaks, but that’s also the point — this core of players is tough to keep down for long.

It still may not be enough for Houston, though, as the Rangers have a 64% chance to win the series and set up what had felt like that inevitable showdown with Philadelphia. But for at least one game, Texas’ dominant run through the postseason was slowed down by an Astros team that has always refused to leave the playoff stage quietly.

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Filed under: Baseball

Original story: The Houston Astros Reminded Everyone Why They’re the Reigning Champs