Houston's dominance has survived two front office regimes, the departure of superstar players, a franchise-rattling scandal and a managerial change.
, it will be in part because the club’s personnel has mastered a form of mindfulness elusive in playoff baseball: That the game itself is no big deal, just like the 162 regular season games that preceded it.“The attention to detail. The level of focus in practice. The effort and preparation. Going about it the right way. Playing hard every single day. Not taking any pitch off,” says third baseman Alex Bregman, sounding as simplistic as a high school football coach.
Those factors certainly cannot hurt, along with an unteachable instinct to joke or joust at just the right time. And not just in the clubhouse. Houston’s pitching staff has dominated these playoffs, from the 39-year-old Verlander, to the occasionally mind-wandering Framber Valdez down to a bullpen that has more arms than it knows what to do with.“In the locker room, he is a voice – both on the fun, playful, joking side as well as the leader, that we’ve got to get things done,” says Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs, who was an Astro through their run to the 2021 AL pennant.