The Astros are not there because they are lucky. They are not back because they "know how to win", or "are clutch" or any of that nonsense people used to espouse about the Patriots. They are there because they are really good, have remained really good, and play with a graet exactness that has allowed them to match their general regular season prowess in the playoffs. They are back because they have truly great players that have generally always played well in October, be it Jose Altuve (who is now hilariously #2 all time in playoff home runs), to the monster that is Yordan Alvarez, to great pitching. They are there because they keep winning the division, they keep winning the first ALDS playoff game at home, and they keep just doing special things.
I wrote near midseason that now, after the Astros second World Series Title last year, I'm open to them not being a dominant automaton, I'm happily enjoying the non-Astros storylines, be it the great rebirth of the Orioles, to the Rangers, to so much else. I enjoy watching so many of the incredible stories the sport has to offer - in its best season in so long, improved by an unconsciable amount from the rule changes. That all is as true today as it was then - but at the end of the day, I wanted that 7th straight trip.
One of the many things I love about College Basketball is that it is the one sport in America that has created a threshold of success below "winning a title" in making the Final Four. They hang banners for making the Final Four. Coaches and programs are routinely ranked and praised for how many Final Fours they've won. And that is great. That means you are one of the 4 best teams in the sport. College does it right. Contrast this to the NFL, where the Colts have been mocked for years for hanging a "2014 AFC Finalist" banner - which effectively is a "2014 Final Four" banner. Screw that, let's celebrate a Final Four, in any sport.
And that's what makes this particular run so special. For seven straight years, the Astros are one of the last 4 teams remaining. I can even look back fairly fondly at the two times they lost in the ALCS. Yes, the 2018 loss to the Red Sox is maddening, a series where the Astros out-hit the Red Sox but were ludicrously awful at stringing those hits together. But then we have the 2020 series, where they valiantly came back from 0-3 down to force a Game 7 against the Rays. If anything, those two ALCS losses hurt far less than the two World Series losses in 2019 and 2021.
Also, what will never leave me about the Seven straight years, is that I've lived so many various lives as a Astros fan. Add to these seven, the Astros 2004 and 2005 trips to the NLCS gives them a staggering nine trips to a LCS in 20 years, the most in the MLB during that span. But somehow in that span of 20 years, they also went nine straight without making the playoffs, including three years of 100+ losses. I remember those times. I remember the weird glimmers of hope during that period, some of which are laughable - like when we were excited about Troy Patton getting called up the majors, or the famed #8 pick of Giovanni Mier, a bust from the start. I remember those dark days, and have no doubt once Altuve ages out, and same with Bregman, and Alvarez leaves for greener pastures, and the Astros lose Verlander and aren't able to keep finding diamonds in teh rough, those fallow days will be back.
Truly, more than anything when this streak finally ends I want it to end with a crash and burn. I don't want to become the 2000-2005 Braves, who after setting the current longest LCS streak of eight (1991-1999), kept making the playoffs but lost in the NLDS five times in six years, some in hapless fashion (twice to my Astros). I want it to end in style, send me back to the old times of watching for the Troy Pattons and the like. I experienced Hell, and am currently still experiencing heaven. Of course I never want the heaven to end, and for one more year at least it isn't ending just yet.
