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The Houston Astros had every reason to believe that 2018 was the beginning of a dynasty. After winning the World Series for the first time in franchise history last year, the Astros entered even stronger this season.
The deadly core of the team, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, George Springer and Alex Bregman, was still intact and the dominant thrower team – which already included Justin Verlander, Dallas Keuchel, Charlie Morton and Lance McCullers Jr. – was reinforced by the arrival of Gerrit Cole The 2018 Astros were supposed to be special.
Instead, they ended the season like all the other teams, with one defeat. The Boston Red Sox eliminated defending World Series champions in the post-season on Thursday, beating the Astros 4-1 in Game 5 of the AHL series.
When a team with high expectations loses prematurely, we tend to wonder what is wrong. There is a urge to thoroughly analyze every moment of every match, hoping to find that thing that helps make sense of defeat.
Many factors have contributed to the loss of the Astros to the benefit of the Red Sox, but none of them adds logic to the loss.
It's impossible to explain how David Price reversed his post-season curse in short-term rest against one of the best baseball offenses. It's just as hard to give Jackie Bradley Jr. a reason to suddenly hit like Ted Williams or Andrew Benintendi to be in the right place to make a decisive pass in Game 4. And good luck trying to figure out why Verlander had his worst post-season start in the years with the Astros season on the line.
The Houston Astros were eliminated from the post-season on Thursday. (AP Photo)
Baseball is not a logical game. A base-loaded rally can end on a broken line directly to the third player, and a bad jump can devour an otherwise outstanding defensive player. Some might call this chance. Others might say that it's just baseball.
During a season of 162 games, these types of games are easier to overcome. In a series of seven games against another strong team, they can make a difference.
Against a more tolerant team, perhaps the Astros would have been the best. But the Red Sox have been on par with the Astros from the start. Some things may not have been as good as the Astros in the ALCS, but they lost because they were outclassed. Boston was the best team for five games. That's why they move on.
For the Astros, the loss is just a little hit in the road. The team must bring back exactly the same core in 2019. If they do not add a single player during the off-season, the Astros will participate next year as one of the most complete baseball teams.
The loss of the Astros during the 2018 ALCS does not mean that their dynasty is over. It's just waiting.
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<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Send him an email to [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik"data-reactid =" 39 ">Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Send him an email to [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
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