The 2018 Houston Astros were considered by many to be one of the best teams in MLB history, but they are headed home after winning just one game in the ALCS. Despite their surprising shortcomings, Alex Bregman still feels this year’s Astros team had more talent than the one that won a championship a year ago.
After the Astros swept the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS, there were questions about how any team could possibly get the best of their starting rotation. Justin Verlander then went on to pitch six innings of two-hit ball against the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the ALCS, and some wondered if Houston would lose another game in the postseason.
It was all downhill from there, as the Astros lost Game 2 in Boston and then dropped three straight at home. The amount of potential Bregman believes the team had could make the 4-1 series loss even more painful for fans.
Astros' Alex Bregman: 'To be honest with y’all, this year’s team was better than last year’s team. … We'll learn from it, and everyone in here will have a little bit of an edge to play with next year … knowing that we believe we should have been back-to-back champions.'
— Brent Zwerneman (@BrentZwerneman) October 19, 2018
In the end, the Red Sox proved that their 108 regular season wins were not a fluke. They made an Astros rotation featuring Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Dallas Keuchel look mediocre, which is remarkable considering the staff had an MLB-best 3.16 ERA during the regular season. Houston’s bullpen also got knocked around after leading the majors with a 3.03 ERA this year.
Boston caught a huge break in Game 4 with a controversial fan interference call, but you don’t dominate a series and win three games on the road just because the umpires helped you out. In the end, the best team in baseball looked like the best team in baseball. Bregman could be right that the 2018 Astros were better than the 2017 team, but the 2018 Red Sox were not around when the 2017 Astros won the World Series.
