PHOENIX — Of course it would have been nice to glance at the out-of-town scoreboard assaulting his vision from his perch in the visitors’ dugout at Chase Field with the emotional detachment of a billionaire checking the Nasdaq index. But Houston Manager A. J. Hinch was not about to quibble about his circumstances Sunday when the Astros closed out their regular season against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
So what if he was not Ned Yost, whose Kansas City Royals woke up Sunday knowing exactly where their road to a possible World Series would begin this week?