HOUSTON — Remember Alex Bregman’s Instagram story?
Yes, hard as it is to believe, 36 hours ago the storm hovering over baseball was whether it’s all in good fun when a player posts “lil pregame video work” along with footage of his team going back-to-back-to-back off his forthcoming opponent. (It is, everyone involved eventually decided, especially after the Red Sox’ Nathan Eovaldi, the opponent in question, held the Astros to two runs in six innings in Game 3 of the ALCS.)
Since then we have entertained—and been entertained by: an accusation of cheating; a counter-accusation of cheating; three lead changes plus two ties; three unbelievable outs made from rightfield, only one on a catch; two replay reviews; nine two-out runs; four hit batsmen; 62 balls in play; the presumptive Game 5 starter pitching in the sixth inning of Game 4; the presumptive backup Game 5 starter warming in the ninth inning of Game 4; a home run that had a 96% chance of being an out; an out that had a 79% chance of being a hit; the leakiest pitcher in the series facing the best hitter in the series and prevailing.