Phillies are winning in 5 if these 3 Astros don’t have a big game

3) Phillies are winning in 5 if the Astros get nothing from Alex Bregman

Jose Altuve has snapped out of his cold postseason. The Astros will have to hope he continues to hit in this series. Someone they’d like to get some more consistency from is Alex Bregman. Now 2 for 11 but with a home run, he heads into Game 4 hitting only .182.

Bregman hit an identical .333/.375/.600 in each of the two previous postseason series against the Mariners and Yankees. He was 5 for 15 with a home run in each. If the Astros are going to beat the Phillies, he’ll be getting a lot more at-bats. Already, Philadelphia has shown they are the toughest opponent for Houston this fall.

Bregman had an unspectacular regular season for the Astros. His .259/.366/.454 slash line were all below the .277/.375/.497 he has hit in his career. Because the team around him has remained elite, it didn’t go so noticed. The Astros still won a lot of games. And Bregman, whose plate discipline is one of his more underrated attributes, did still draw 87 walks while striking out 77 times.

The Astros offense has yet to explode in this series. It’s not unusual in the World Series for teams to hit a little lighter. After all, these are supposed to be the two best.

Unless the Astros want to end things early, they’re going to need a big game from Bregman. Otherwise, look for them to go down 3-1 and see the Phillies celebrate on Thursday. It’s now or never.