Astros claim first World Series crown
LOS ANGELES — From laughingstock to lift off.
George Springer and the Houston Astros rocketed to the top of the baseball galaxyWednesday night, winning the first World Series championship in franchise history by romping past the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-1, in Game 7.
Playing for a city still recovering from Hurricane Harvey, and wearing an H Strong logo on their jerseys, the Astros brought home the prize that had eluded them since they started out in 1962 as the Colt .45s.
“I always believed that we could make it,” All-Star slugger Jose Altuve said. “We did this for them.”
For a Series that was shaping up as an October classic, Game 7 quickly became a November clunker asHouston scored five runs in the first two innings off Yu Darvish. Hardly the excitement fans felt during the Cubs’ 10-inning thriller in Cleveland last fall.
Well, except for everyone wearing bright orange. Back in Houston, a huge crowd filled Minute Maid Park to cheer as fans watched on the big video board, and the train whistlewailed when it was over.
“We’re coming home a champion, Houston,” Springer said after accepting the World Series MVP trophy named this year for WillieMays.
Star shortstop Carlos Correa turned the party into a proposal. After doing aTV interview, he got down on one knee and asked girlfriendDaniellaRodriguez, a former Miss Texas USA, to marry him.
“Yes?” he said, putting a ring on her finger as she cried.
Altuve, one of four holdovers from a club that lost an embarrassing 111 times in 2013 after switching from the NL to the AL, and this collection of young stars silenced Dodger Stadium fromthe get-go, taking a 5-0 lead in the second inning.
Altuve was in perfect position for the final out, a grounder by Corey Seager to the 5-foot-6 second baseman.
“I caught the last out for the Houston Astros to become a world champion. It was a groundball to me, I threw to first, and I think it was the happiestmomentof my life in baseball,” Altuve said.
The Astros streamed from the dugout and bullpen to go wild, tossing their gloves in the air. A thousand or so fans crowded behind the first base dugout, chanting “Hou-ston! Hou-ston!”
At last, they had completed the ascent some predicted after a rebuilding club purged payroll and stripped down to bare bones a few years back.
Famously, now, therewas the Sports Illustrated cover in 2014— afterHouston had lost more than 100 games for three straight seasons — that proclaimed: “Your 2017 World Series Champs” and featured apicture of Springer in a bright Astros jersey.
Normally a starter, CharlieMorton finished up with four stellar innings of relief for the win.
“We held down a really tough lineup,” Morton said. “For my teammates, for the city of Houston, it’s just unbelievable.”