Troy Taormina/USA TODAY Sports
HOUSTON — Framber Valdez dealt, Yordan Alvarez sent a baseball to the moon and as a result, the Astros beat the Phillies 4–1 in Game 6 of the World Series to clinch its second championship in franchise history.
This was the fourth time in the past six season that the Astros had reached the World Series, but in their previous two trips, against the Nationals in 2019 and last year vs. the Braves, they were upset by two weaker teams that weren’t expected to make it as far as they did. This time, though, they came back with three straight wins after falling behind in the series, 2–1, each with key moments from some of the team’s younger stars, who weren’t around for the first title, in ’17. In addition to Valdez and Alvarez, that group of newer stars includes rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña, righthander Cristian Javier and center fielder Chas McCormick, among others.
