When it comes to history, what you’ve done lately matters more

NEW YORK — Late Tuesday night, just after the Washington Nationals had finished dismantling the Cardinals to advance to the franchise’s first World Series, there was a spirited sports debate at The Milton, a pub on the Upper East Side.

A couple of proud Nationals fans, one sporting a bright red Nats T-shirt in Yankees country, extolled the virtue of their surprising squad, which until a week ago had never even won a playoff series.

One of the longtime Washington fans — well, dating back to when the Montreal Expos moved to the nation’s capital in 2005 and changed their name to the

Nationals — rattled off the names of star players who presumably would help the Nationals win the World Series.

The Yankees fan, a tad tipsy, hesitated when it was his turn to run down his team’s list of gamechangers.

“Who do we have? What do we have?” he asked himself. “We have 27 World Series — that’s what we have.”

Mr. Pinstripes was so proud. When in doubt, bring up the banners. No team can match that.

History is almost always on the Yankees’ side.

Pick a day. Like Tuesday. With Washington simply making it to the World Series, it was the biggest day in Nationals history. It was the 33rd anniversary of one of the more memorable games in Astros history: the epic 16-inning, Game 6 NLCS loss to the Mets. And it was the 96th

anniversary of the day the Yankees clinched their first World Series title with a win over the New York Giants. Advantage, Yankees. As usual. The Nationals fan fought back by pointing out that the Yankees have not been to a World Series this decade. If they don’t advance past the Astros in the ALCS, this would mark the first time that has happened since the 1910s.

Unbothered, Yankee guy jokingly offered to give up a decade, since the Yankees have decades of pennant-winning baseball to spare. But when he got word that someone from Houston was in the room, his attitude changed.

The Astros are a team to worry about, he said. The Yankees aren’t offering to give the Astros a decade, because the Astros are in the process of taking it.

The Astros won a World Series two years ago and are favored to win another. They beat the Yankees in the playoffs twice in the previous four seasons and currently have a 2-1 edge with Game 4 of the ALCS on tap for Thursday.

From the start of spring training, the Astros have said they are the best team in baseball and set out to prove it.

They don’t brag, but they aren’t afraid of putting targets on their backs. You hear more from this organization about what it needs to do in-house to win than who it has to beat.

“I think when you have expectations, you have a couple of ways teams try to play it,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Some teams try to play it off and be low-key about it. I think the best route for us is to embrace it.

“We have to do a lot of things to have the team that we have. We need to stay humble and continue to do the work to be a good team in all facets of the game. You can’t just show up and play just because you think you’re the best team in the league. You have to go out and prove it day in and day out.”

This team is not flustered by much, not an uncharacteristically sluggish Game 1 in which

they were shut out at home, a Game 4 postponed a day by rain, or a somewhat nasty Yankee Stadium crowd. (Perhaps unaccustomed to dealing with such a lengthy World Series drought?)

Unlike a friendly bar argument, Yankees history won’t win this series.

Those banners can’t score runs against Gerrit Cole. Those pennants can’t get balls through the hole where Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman roam. The many Yankees legends won’t come to the plate against Justin Verlander on Friday.

The World Series score might be 27-1 Yankees, but these Astros aren’t behind. They have a lead over the Yankees in this best-ofseven, with potentially two home games remaining and two games that Cole and Verlander, who surrendered two runs total in the Astros’ wins in the series, could start.

And Houston still hasn’t had a breakout offensive game, of which it is very much capable.

The best team in baseball —

self-declared and proven on the field to this point — isn’t supposed to lose this.

“People are going to talk about three 100-win seasons in a row or a World Series title in ’17 or winning your division,” Hinch said. “They’re going to put it all out there for you.

“I’ve taken the approach with our team to embrace it and note it and get after it with the preparation to try to continue.”

To the Astros, the Yankees aren’t a monumental task or historical challenge. They’re just the team that is in the way.

“We’re experienced, with guys who have been there, so no one is going to be surprised or intimidated by the bright lights,” Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said before the playoffs started. “We respect all of our opponents, but we know who we are and what we’re capable of. If we play the way we can, we will win.

“And that’s against anybody.”