3 things the Astros must do to get back into the World Series

Overcome history and the red-hot Nationals

The Astros, winners of 107 games in the regular season, were baseball’s best team in 2019. The Nationals, meanwhile, are looking like a team of destiny.

Winning three straight games wouldn’t be a problem for the powerful Astros at any other point in the season. Doing so against the Nationals, though, seems nearly impossible with how they are playing right now. The Nationals have won their last eight postseason games since falling down 2-1 to the Dodgers in the ALDS. That matches their winning streak to end the regular season. They’ve won 18 of their last 20 games, and have lost back-to-back games at home just once since the beginning of August.

The Astros won’t just have to overcome the Nationals the rest of the series, they’ll have to contend with a century of baseball history. Teams with a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series go on to win 81 percent of the time. Half of those series end in either four or five games. Ten of the 13 teams to win the first two games of the World Series on the road have gone on to win. Only the 1985 Royals, 1986 Mets, and 1996 Yankees have overcome that deficit after losing two straight at home.

But that’s exactly what the Astros will have to do if they want to win their second World Series in the past three seasons. It’s a long shot, to be sure, but if any team can do it it’s the one who, until the World Series started on Tuesday, looked like a dynasty in the making.