HOUSTON — There stood the most mind-boggling team of a magnificent era, eyes affixed to a home field they refused to defend and upon an intrastate rival raging on the right side of their infield. Some Houston Astros players slumped over the dugout railing. Others offered blank stares at such an unfamiliar scene.
Advertisement
“It’s something new (for) myself because I’ve been to the World Series the last two years,” outfielder Chas McCormick said. “It was just weird seeing the other guys celebrate.”
McCormick spent more time than most watching the Texas Rangers rejoice on a miserable Monday night at Minute Maid Park. Other teammates descended the dugout steps and shuffled into a sullen clubhouse. Hugs and handshakes interrupted the silence inside. Disappointment lingered, but devastation seemed too strong a descriptor.
“It’s frustrating, but at the same time, I feel like we accomplished a lot of stuff,” veteran catcher Martín Maldonado said. “It wasn’t easy all year. We had a lot of injuries. I’m really proud of this group of guys. We never gave up. Just to make it seven in a row, it’s pretty special.”
Those seven consecutive American League Championship Series appearances have invited enormous expectations. Two consecutive pennants, too. Coming to the precipice of a third counts for nothing, not even a successful season.
“Not a success. Of course not. I think for us a success is winning the World Series,” Maldonado said. “I think we gave everything we could on a daily basis. The year wasn’t easy.”
“No,” third baseman Alex Bregman added. “I think winning the World Series is a success.”
Alex Bregman meets with the media after the Astros fall to the Rangers 11-4 in Game 7 of the ALCS pic.twitter.com/PBKrgkDGuA
— Space City Home Network (@SpaceCityHN) October 24, 2023
“I wouldn’t consider it a success,” second-year shortstop Jeremy Peña echoed.
And so, at 10:26 p.m. CT, with another Kyle Tucker groundout in a month full of them, the Houston Astros finished a failure. The Texas Rangers trounced them, 11-4, in Game 7 of the ALCS.
The blowout blew up Houston’s pursuit of a second consecutive World Series title while leaving a city to wonder where this all went awry. Four days earlier, Jose Altuve authored one of the most astonishing moments in franchise history: a go-ahead three-run home run in Game 5 to snatch victory from the throes of defeat and put the Astros one win away from a third consecutive World Series appearance.
Advertisement
Returning home never felt so foreboding. Houston lost 47 of its 87 games at Minute Maid Park this season, including five in a row during the postseason. Texas outscored the Astros 20-6 across the final two games. Houston’s lineup finished 7-for-58 with runners in scoring position during six home playoff games. Three of them featured two runs or fewer.
“Obviously we would have liked to get it done here and there’s no simple answer as to why we didn’t play great at home,” ace Justin Verlander said. “It just stinks. Obviously, we would have liked to have it go different.”
Monday morphed into a microcosm of all that ailed this Astros team — suspect starting pitching from someone they were supposed to count on, shoddy fundamentals and a stunning inability to hit inside their home ballpark.
Manager Dusty Baker did not deploy his bullpen or bench with much urgency, but expecting it felt far-fetched. He spent seven months preaching patience, promoting positivity and pleading with people not to panic.
The tactics are appreciated across the 162-game grind of a regular season, not during Game 7 of the ALCS.
Before the game became a farce, Baker missed two obvious opportunities to act with more aggression. His counterpart did not.
Bruce Bochy brought back his Game 5 starter on two days of rest, watched Jordan Montgomery twirl 2 1/3 scoreless innings and moved to 3-0 in Game 7 appearances as a result.
Baker still has not won one. His management style drew incessant criticism throughout the season, but assigning him all of the blame for this is foolish. This winter, owner Jim Crane spent $105 million on three free agents during his two-month stint as head of baseball operations. Rafael Montero, José Abreu and Michael Brantley combined for negative 0.4 wins above replacement, according to Baseball-Reference’s version of the metric.
Advertisement
Crane signed no starting pitching depth, only to watch his rotation sustain three long-term injuries in the first three months of the season. Regression from Cristian Javier, inconsistency from Framber Valdez and reliance on rookies Hunter Brown and J.P. France all but forced Crane to authorize a trade deadline deal for Verlander. First-year general manager Dana Brown parted with his two best prospects in return.
That Houston overcame such a wretched winter and in-season injuries to Altuve and Yordan Alvarez is a testament to its depth and Baker’s deft hand in keeping things afloat.
“We had a good year, a lot of ups and downs throughout the season,” Tucker said. “And we at least had the opportunity to get there.”
Javier brought one of baseball’s best postseason resumes to the ballpark on Monday. He exited as an excruciating piece of history. No starting pitcher in 27 years had thrown fewer than one inning in a Game 7. Only five men ever managed such misery.
Javier is now the sixth. He faced six batters. Five of them reached. Corey Seager socked the fourth pitch he threw into the second deck of right-field seats, a 440-foot home run and a harbinger of a hellish next few minutes.
The next four Rangers reached base. Three of them struck singles and two of them stole second base, exposing Javier’s season-long problem with holding base runners. Javier permitted 24 stolen bases in 27 attempts this season.
“His (velocity) was up. His command wasn’t great,” Maldonado said. “His off-speed pitches weren’t sharp. I feel like they had a good game plan against him. I feel like he was a little amped up. … I thought he tried to do too much.”
Houston ambushed Rangers starter Max Scherzer to close the gap Javier created. Altuve annihilated the first pitch he threw for a double. Abreu bounced a single down the third-base line to score him. That Abreu could not advance an extra 90 feet on the throw-in seemed curious. Brantley grounded into an inning-ending double play to magnify the gaffe.
Advertisement
In the third, Bregman bludgeoned a solo home run against Scherzer to pull his team within two runs. The bottom of Texas’ order loomed in the fourth. Baker and pitching coach Josh Miller chose rookie right-hander France to face them.
The decision involved sound logic. Houston had seven more innings to cover after Javier’s collapse. France is a starter by trade stowed in the bullpen for this exact scenario. He surrendered a leadoff single to Josh Jung but struck out nine-hole hitter Leody Taveras to turn Texas’ lineup over with one out.
France fired four pitches to leadoff man Marcus Semien. None of them landed near the strike zone. Seager stepped into the batter’s box with two extra-base hits on his ledger. He smoked an infield single to load the bases. Still, no one warmed in Houston’s bullpen.
Only after Evan Carter curled a two-run double down the right field line did Hector Neris start to throw. No rule prohibits a manager from using high-leverage relievers before the seventh inning. Baker and his coaching staff acted as if one existed.
Preserving a two-run deficit felt paramount, but even after Carter’s double, a four-run hole isn’t insurmountable. Baker allowed France to face three more batters. Two of them struck hits. That the team even pitched to ALCS MVP Adolis García with a base open is befuddling. He rolled a single through the six-hole to score another run.
“That’s baseball. He was hot, and he’s been hot the whole series. We did strike him out quite a few times. But he got us,” Baker said.
“There’s a whole bunch of stuff you can point to in that ballgame. And so we just got beat. Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason. Sometimes you lose and sometimes you get beat. There’s a difference. We got beat.”
Texas exited the fourth with a six-run lead. Singles by McCormick and Peña in the home half provided hope for a rally against Montgomery. Up strolled Maldonado to muzzle it.
Advertisement
Baker spent a whole season supporting the veteran starter, even as his offensive numbers dwindled. Anger for Maldonado’s miserable offense is often exaggerated — especially in a lineup where Peña never awoke from a sophomore slump, Abreu authored one of the worst seasons of any everyday player in the sport and Tucker faded in October.
Houston constructed its lineup knowing Maldonado would not hit. Here, though, a hit could keep hope alive. Baker still allowed Maldonado to bat over backup Yainer Diaz, with his .846 OPS and 45 extra-base hits.
Maldonado flew out, Altuve followed with another and a home crowd conditioned for a comedown witnessed a final one.
“You never want to lose,” Brantley said. “We fought hard to get to this point. We accomplished a lot this year, nothing to hang our hat on. But at the same time, it’s not what our ultimate goal was.”
GO DEEPER
Diamondbacks vs. Rangers World Series Preview: Predictions, pitching matchups and more
(Top photo of Jose Altuve: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)
