ARLINGTON, Texas — Whatever you do, don't ask Jose Altuve about the 2019 World Series and if he has thought about that as the 2023 ALCS battle against the Texas Rangers has unfolded.
One reporter felt the frustration from Altuve in Friday's pregame media session when he asked the Houston fixture about the 2019 Fall Classic, a memorable best-of-seven battle where the Washington Nationals downed the Astros to win the title.
But the reporter wasn't doing it to poke Altuve, but rather to see if the All-Star second baseman had considered the correlation between that series and the one currently unfolding here in the Lone Star State.
Why the 2019 World Series is a hot topic at the 2023 ALCS
After all, the road team has won the first four games of the 2023 ALCS, now knotted at 2-2 heading into Friday's pivotal Game 5 inside Globe Life Field. With that, this year's ALCS becomes the seventh best-of-seven series in MLB history to have the road team win each of the first four games. It's also the first time it has happened since ... the World Series of 2019, when the road team won all seven games, including Washington's clinching victory inside Minute Maid Park.
Similar? Sure. But Altuve doesn't want to reflect upon that right now.
"I think someone tried to talk to me about it and I stopped it right away," Altuve said. "I don't want to think about it. If that's the case, we're going to end up losing, so didn't really want to think about it. And like I said, the whole focus is not on tomorrow, but the whole team is on today's game. And if we can get this one it's going to be huge."
After logging his 100th career postseason game on Thursday, Altuve has the veteran presence and experience to handle any situation. However, he and the Astros are certainly hoping to become the first home team to win a game in this series when the ALCS shifts back to Houston on Sunday for Game 6. That will be a contest where the Astros will either be facing elimination or ready to punch their ticket to the World Series. In either case, it will also be a chance for Altuve and the rest of the Astros who were there in 2019 to move on from the questions and the eerie similarities between then and now.
