The Astros’ path to the ALCS really doesn’t seem fair
By John Buhler
Will a real Houston Astros postseason challenger please stand up?
The Houston Astros are now one win away from getting back to the ALCS.
Despite being the No. 6 overall seed in the expanded AL postseason picture, the Astros swept their AL Wild Card series over the No. 3 Minnesota Twins and now have a 2-0 series lead over the No. 2 Oakland Athletics in their 2020 ALDS. Though you can’t control who you play, we should be ashamed of the combined effort the Twins and A’s have put forth so far in October vs. Houston.
The Astros are built for October, while the Twins and Athletics are sadly not.
When we saw the Astros drew the Twins in the AL Wild Card series, everybody outside of the Twin Cities knew that was going to be a Houston sweep, as Minnesota has absolutely no clue whatsoever as to how to win a postseason game. With the Athletics advancing for the first time in October since 2006, they have embodied the just happy to be here vibes we expected out of them.
Though everybody and their brother will troll the Astros so unbelievably hard if they lose their next three games to not make it back to the ALCS, there is next to no chance of that even happening. The A’s have their backs up against it, and they’ve been a sit-down franchise in the postseason for the better part of 30 years. Houston has Oakland right where it wants it, and we know it does.
Had it been the Chicago White Sox who advanced instead of Oakland, maybe we would have gotten a more competitive best-of-five ALDS? Unfortunately, we’ll never know because the South Siders just couldn’t win that second game in three days on the road in Oakland. Now, a well-rested Astros team will reach the ALCS to face either the New York Yankees or the Tampa Bay Rays.
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While other excellent postseason teams may not get challenged in the first two rounds, we expected the No. 6 seed out of the AL to not be in position to cruise quite like this. Then again, why should we ever have any faith in teams like the Twins and the A’s to get it done in October. If this was the late 1980s and early 1990s, we could, but that was over 30 years ago!
Baseball’s most reviled team is one win away from getting to yet another MLB final four.