In a week of sweeps, upsets, and 100-win teams eliminated or on the brink, the Astros found a way to survive and advance -- just like they always do.
MINNEAPOLIS -- In this October of chaos, of 100-win teams swept and a winless American League East and lower-seed dominance, there is but one constant. Theare doing what the Houston Astros do, which is to say they are owning the most important month on the baseball calendar.In this time where there is bellyaching about the game's playoff format, in which the best teams sit for a week while the laggards fight for their season in the wild-card round, there is the outlier.
In this moment of profound questions across the sport, about strategy and analytics and the challenges of building a team to succeed in the playoffs like it does over a 162-game season, there is the team that for seven straight years has found itself in the American League Championship Series. The Astros were once upon a time the most analytically inclined organization in baseball. Even as in recent years they've receded from that, they still just win.Baseball is on one.
That's baseball. For all those who care to complain about how winning a division doesn't mean anything anymore, understand this: Every single team ---- would rather have a week off after the season to rest and reset its rotation than play a best-of-three series against another quality team with its season on the line.
It's what makes the Astros' run all the more impressive. For seven years -- one short of Atlanta's record eight straight LCS appearances -- the Astros have managed to win at least one playoff series. And as dissatisfying as that might be for those who harbor resentment against the organization for its cheating in 2017, anyone who refuses to acknowledge the Astros' exceptional staying power is just willfully ignorant.
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