SI:AM | The Astros’ Remarkable Streak

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I don’t think there’s any arguing that the Phillies have the best home atmosphere in the playoffs.

In today’s SI:AM:

????‍???? Houston’s x-factor

???? Kansas’s wrist slap

⚾ Acuña’s special home run trot

Houston owns October

There’s just no stopping the Astros. After polishing off the Twins in Game 4 of the ALDS yesterday, Houston is headed to an astonishing seventh straight ALCS.

This was a down season for the Astros, at least by the lofty standards they’ve set for themselves. They won 90 games (their fewest in a full 162-game season since 2016) and won the AL West via the tiebreaker over the 90-win Rangers. But Houston is a team built for the postseason, with an offense that relies on its power hitters to change the game with a single swing and a pitching staff that limits batted-ball luck by relying on strikeouts.

The Astros also have a hidden x-factor, though, Tom Verducci writes:

Playing the Astros with Martín Maldonado behind the plate is like walking into a fun house room of mirrors. Nothing is as it seems. Confusion reigns.

Maldonado is a nonfactor offensively (career batting average of .207), but he’s an elite game-caller behind the plate. Maldonado “​​knows what he’s doing behind the plate,” former teammate Carlos Correa said after his Twins were eliminated yesterday. “And he knows every hitter’s weaknesses and he’s going to try to exploit. He pitches against the [hitters’] expected slug.”

In a game as tight as yesterday’s was (a 3–2 victory for Houston), every pitch is critical. Maldonado’s expert management of the pitching staff kept the Twins off balance and took the pressure off the Astros’ hitters.

Houston’s win sets up an all-Texas ALCS against the Rangers, who swept the Orioles on Tuesday. It’s a matchup of baseball’s most unstoppable team (the defending World Series champions, seeking a fifth AL pennant in seven seasons) against a team that rebuilt aggressively to engineer a rapid turnaround in hopes of becoming the best team in the state. It’ll be a good one.

Dodgers go down without a fight

In a way, it was surprising to see the Dodgers, who have been to the NLCS six times in the past 11 years, get swept by the Diamondbacks, but it shouldn’t have been shocking to see this Dodgers team make an early exit.

Los Angeles struggled with injuries all year. Projected starting shortstop Gavin Lux tore his ACL in a spring training game. Ace Walker Buehler wasn’t able to return from last year’s Tommy John surgery as initially expected. Fellow starters Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May also sustained season-ending injuries. That left the Dodgers with a second-rate postseason rotation. A diminished Clayton Kershaw was rocked for six earned runs while recording only one out in Game 1. Rookie Bobby Miller allowed three runs and didn’t make it out of the second inning in his start in Game 2.

The lack of rotation depth meant that the Dodgers had to turn to Lance Lynn in Game 3 with their season on the line. Lynn, who was acquired at the trade deadline from the White Sox, pitched better with L.A. than he did in Chicago, but he still led the majors with 44 home runs allowed this season. So it came as no surprise when Lynn allowed four solo homers in the third inning last night. Those four swings represented the only four runs the D-Backs scored, but the previously potent Dodgers offense (second in the majors this season with 5.59 runs per game) was silent again. The first three hitters in the L.A. lineup (Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and J.D. Martinez) were a combined 0-for-12 with four strikeouts. The only two Dodgers runs came when they strung together four straight singles in the seventh inning. The pitching wasn’t great, but the offense, which scored two runs in each of the three games, didn’t do its part, either.

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Ronald Acuña Jr. takes his home run trots very seriously. Stephanie Apstein breaks down every aspect of his celebratory routine.
• Kansas’s lenient punishment from the NCAA is proof that the FBI’s investigation into college hoops was nothing to sneeze at, Pat Forde writes.
• Albert Breer has a few updates on the future of some NFL coaches on the hot seat and a few potential trade deadline targets.
• Kevin Sweeney’s men’s college basketball preview series continues with the Big 12.
• Taylor Swift is reportedly expected to be in attendance in Kansas City tonight when the Chiefs take on the Broncos.
• Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia said he never meant for Bryce Harper to hear him mock him after Game 2. Then maybe Arcia shouldn’t have yelled it in a room full of reporters.
• Browns tight end David Njoku shared shocking photos of the facial burns that required him to play in a full mask. 
• Former NFL defensive back Sergio Brown has reportedly been arrested in connection with the death of his mother.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Connor Bedard’s first NHL goal, a wraparound beauty.

4. The UTEP defense’s celebration in front of FIU’s Lamborghini.

3. Kings rookie Alex Laferriere’s family’s reaction to his winning a fight in his NHL debut.

2. This movie-quality footage of an inning-ending strikeout by Aaron Nola.

1. Bryce Harper’s staring down Orlando Arcia after both of his home runs in Game 3. (This photo is an instant classic.)

SIQ

The three-point shot made its debut on this day in 1979, with the Celtics’ Chris Ford hitting the first three in league history. How many threes did the league leader make that season?

• 55
• 90
• 125
• 164

Yesterday’s SIQ: The Providence Steam Roller, an early NFL franchise, played their first home game Oct. 11, 1925. Which sport was their home stadium originally designed to host?

• Cricket
• Horse racing
• Baseball
• Cycling

Answer: Cycling. It was called the Cycledrome. It had been built by a local sports promoter who was a part-owner of the Steam Roller, but its primary purpose was for bicycle racing. The football field was surrounded by the wooden cycling track, which cut into the end zones, forcing them to be just five yards deep. The stadium had 10,000 seats but added additional capacity by constructing temporary seating on the track’s straightaways. Those seats were “so close to the field that players, after being tackled, often found themselves two or three rows deep in the stands,” according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.