Home Field Advantage Meant Absolutely Nothing This Time

This was supposed to be one of the greatest baseball teams of all time. It was the year that the Houston Astros, with all the things they accomplished in the regular season and in some of the postseason, would become a team for the ages.

Instead, we got some highly teachable moments.

The only destiny the Astros headed for was a brick wall. We have just seen one of the most bizarre World Series ever played, one where the home team never mattered. The Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals were the participants, and there could only be one winner. Right now, however, this writer is viewing this from an Astros fan's perspective. Game 7, as I have thought about since the Game 6 disaster, would be a dangerous game, and was. And Washington was a dangerous opponent, as the Astros never had that much success against them in either club's history. Houston did top Tampa Bay (another tough opponent) and eventually would overtake the New York Yankees. Could we just bring those mistaken Nats uniforms from ten years ago just for this series?

But the Natinals?? They never gave up. Despite Houston having a promising Game 7 in which Zack Greinke pitched the game of his life, and the Astros had plenty of chances to rally and give themselves the lead. Problem was, the Astros' lead was not big enough. Multiple runners were left stranded in the first five innings, and Houston could only muster two runs out of this. I knew all along that a two-run lead would not be enough and could not be safe. Not against a stingy Nats lineup.

By the time Greinke left the game, the Natinals came back to life once more. It looked for a while like Houston would turn the corner and race for the finish line if it could rally after Washington starter Max Scherzer, two days removed from serious neck and back spasms rendering him unmovable, was finally out of the game.

It was not to be.

The Astros' offense still could not get clutch hits to follow the hits they did manage to get. Somehow, they did it in Washington, but not in their home park. These guys could have had five or six runs going into the middle innings, and who knows where things might have gone. And here come the Nationals once again, making the same plays and executing at the plate when they needed to, just like in Games 1 and 2. Take it back? Not this year. Astros lose in 7 games this time in their third World Series. No title.

Home field advantage my &%$. Instead was the unthinkable: The road team won every game. Washington's lineup was just purely better than Houston's this time around. I've said that the Astros are on the verge of a dynasty. They're not there yet, as they failed to achieve the big prize fifty years after Apollo 11 flight, which would have been perfect for Houston. What they're settling for is just an American League pennant.

I guess it's now safe to say "See you next year". The Astros will have an interesting offseason, and their roster may have to face some tweaking. Stay tuned to this blog, and I'll let you know of any developments.

Baseball is game of inches. It is also a game of heartbreak. This World Series, with big expectations of Space City's second title which never was, proved just that.