Left standing by Major League Baseball, by karma, by a sub-.500 regular season and a three-games-to-none deficit in the American League Championship Series, the Houston Astros had but two remaining obstacles en route to an unlikely — and mostly unpopular — World Series appearance.
Their past.
Those arrived together Saturday night in San Diego.
Only then were the Astros — disgraced by a cheating scandal last winter and 11 months later defiant in their refusal to succumb (or atone) — undone.
Charlie Morton, one of their own at a time when they won a World Series and lost their reputations, started for the Rays in this Game 7, pitched 5 u2154 scoreless innings, celebrated a 4-2 win with his new teammates and prepared for a trip to Dallas to play the survivor of Sunday’s National League Championship Series Game 7.