HOUSTON — The Astros lost a home game in the World Series. Again. It’s become a disturbing habit for the American League’s best team. And, folks, it’s hard to win World Series titles when you can’t win games in your home ballpark.
The Astros have played eight World Series games at home over the past four seasons, and they’ve only won one of those eight. It’s rather incredible, and not in a good way.
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Houston won the World Series in 2017, going 2-1 at home in Games 3-4-5. In the 2019 World Series, the Astros lost all four games in Houston, including Games 6-7 after winning all three games on the road against the Nationals. In 2021, the Astros lost Game 1 at home, won Game 2 and dropped Game 6, as the Braves clinched the World Series title.
Losing Game 1 at home is rough. Losing an elimination game at home is even worse.
The loss on Friday night to the Phillies was brutal, on several levels. The obvious one, of course, is that the Astros now trail 1-0 in the World Series. The layers, though? That’s where the pain really sets in.
“They just took it from us tonight,” manager Dusty Baker said.
Kyle Tucker hit two home runs in the first three innings of Game 1. Didn’t matter. Justin Verlander was perfect through the first three innings, not allowing a single runner. Didn’t matter. The Astros had a 5-0 lead through three innings. Didn’t, as you know, matter.
“My team gave me a five-run lead and I wasn't able to hold it,” Verlander said after the game. “I feel really confident that 99 percent of the time that I’m able to hold that lead and unfortunately today I wasn’t.”
A lot has been made of Verlander’s personal struggles in the World Series, and they are a bit eye-catching. The future Hall of Famer has started eight World Series games; he has a 6.07 ERA and his teams — the Tigers and Astros — are 1-7 in those contests.
There’s that 1-7 number again.
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Another element that’s just so surprising: The Astros have been dominant at home in basically every other scenario. In the ALCS those three seasons, they’re 6-2. In the ALDS, they’re 7-0. So, 13-2 in the first two rounds, 1-7 in the title round. In those eight World Series games, they’ve been outscored 51-25. Yikes.
The Astros are now 1-7 in their past eight World Series games at home. That’s not a championship formula.
— Jason Foster (@ByJasonFoster) October 29, 2022
In the regular season, the Astros won 60 games at home in 2019, 51 in 2021 and 55 this year.
And it’s not like they’ve just run into teams that were dominant.
In 2019, the Astros won 107 games and the Nationals won 93.
In 2021, the Astros won 95 games and the Braves won 88.
In 2022, the Astros won 106 games and the Phillies won 87.
The regular season win totals of the teams they dominated at home in the ALCS:
In 2019, the Yankees won 103 games.
In 2021, the Red Sox won 92.
In 2022, the Yankees won 99.
All three ALCS foes had higher win totals than the World Series foes. So what’s the deal? It’s certainly not because the home atmosphere is lacking. Minute Maid Park was packed on Friday, a sellout crowd that was in head-to-toe orange, that cheered each Tucker home run or routine defensive play like it was the most important play in the history of the world.
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It’s just a matter of the players not executing. Because, let’s be honest, a 1-7 record is pretty awful but it’s also a pretty small sample size. It’s not that the Astros can’t win at home, it’s just that they haven’t.
“Every day, even when it’s not a good result, we start fresh the next day,” Jose Altuve said after the game. “I think we’re really good at that, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
If they want to figure out a way to prevent the Phillies from winning the 2022 World Series, they’d better figure out a way to get the W in Game 2. Because heading to Philly down 2-0, well, that’s a less-than-ideal scenario.
