The Astros are back.
Back to the baseball’s Holy Land.
Dating back to 2017, the Astros have settled themselves in the American League Championship Series and have prevailed in winning a total of three pennants in the last five years. Much noise from the outside world has hovered over the team that won 95 regular-season games but they were able to prove themselves triumphant as they were able to shut out the Red Sox 5-0 in Game 6 and are en route to the 2021 World Series.
The tranquilness that Minute Maid Park harbors helped enclose the confidence the Astros needed to prove to the baseball world that they aren’t here to render their title of being the most fearless team in baseball. The confidence echoed loudly in the clubhouse, a clubhouse that was adopted by Dusty Baker and brought to fruition.
Two Latinos thrived under the glaring lights that reflected the power they possessed when overtaking the Red Sox. Yordan Álvarez and Luis García.
Álvarez’s light shined so brightly, on a night where he went 4-for-4, he was awarded the ALCS M.V.P. award.
The moment never became too big for the 24-year-old Cuban. He showed us his elite skills in the months of his rookie season in 2019, and despite being sidelined for the 2020 season due to injury, Álvarez put the team on his back in Game 6 and carried them to baseball’s holy land, the World Series
strung in the first RBI for the Astros with a liner that bounced off the palm of Kiké Hernández’s glove, scoring Alex Bregman for the quick 1-0 first-inning lead. Later in the game, he scored two runs to give the Astros the edge they needed to push the Red Sox over the edge.
“Super happy. Super happy. I just want to give thanks to God, first, before everything,” Álvarez said after his big night in the batter’s box. “Just for the opportunity to be here, but really it was incredible. I didn’t really imagine myself being able to come out of that surgery on both knees and be able to do this as quickly as I did. So it was really unbelievable for me to be able to come back and do what I did, but just super happy to be here and be able to contribute like that.”
Luis García, a 24-year-old native of Venezuela, took the responsibility of carrying the Astros on his back when he stepped foot onto the pitching mound. All it took was a foot adjustment and García’s delivery was deafening, as he stormed through 5 ⅔ innings giving up only one hit and walk and blanking seven batters to claim the win. As manager Dusty Baker cut the cord in the sixth inning, entrusting his bullpen with shutting down any threat the Red Sox posed, García stepped off the mound and as he exited there was a thunderous roar from the Houston crowd. With that, García became the third Astros pitcher in Postseason history to pitch at least 5 ⅔ innings without giving up more than one hit, joining Justin Verlander (2009) and Brandon Backe (2004).
“The adjustment that I made in my leg, it helped me a lot, and maybe the excitement. I was really excited for the game. Maybe that. I don’t know. I’m happy,” the rookie starter said after taking his team to the World Series. “Just really excited to be part of my first World Series. It’s like a dream come true really.”
To add to the list of momentous accomplishments, García also became the third pitcher in MLB Postseason history to deliver at least 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball with seven strikeouts and not relinquishing more than one hit or one walk. He now accompanies Hall of Famers Roy Halladay (2010), Don Larsen (1956), and Warren Spahn (1948 WS G5).
The Houston Astros have had a chip on their shoulder for the past four seasons and this season was no different. After clinching the American League Pennant, the Astros wrote the last sentence in the chapter that belonged to the Red Soxs’ Cinderella story.
For the Red Sox, the fairytale story was cut short. For the first time in his managerial career, Alex Cora made his way down the eerie walls that led to the clubhouse and guided his team to the locker room where he spoke to his team that defied many odds.
“I told them how proud I am. It’s an amazing group. It’s a group that we will always remember,” Cora said in a solemn tone after being eliminated from the postseason.” But at the end of the day, we did an amazing job to have that meeting. Not too many teams can say that they’re in the League Championship Series, and I know it doesn’t sound great, to have that meeting it means something, right? And we did an amazing job throughout the season. We just got beat at the end, but when we look back and everything that we went through, the thoughts of this team early in the season, it’s just amazing. It was a great year. Obviously, very disappointed that we didn’t win this series, but we’re going to look back and we’re going to be very proud of the group, the organization, and everybody that got to be part of this operation on a daily basis.”
