NEW YORK — During the first champagne celebration Sunday, the one that sent them to Yankee Stadium, Carlos Gomez said the Astros had taken the first step to “be in the real playoffs.”
Point taken. Tuesday’s wild card game, the one-game playoff to make the best-of-five American League Division Series, was more gateway than accomplishment.
A second clubhouse spray in three days followed a 3-0 win over the Yankees and six shutout innings from Dallas Keuchel, a performance on short rest that has them firmly in Gomez’s “real” postseason now, and an outing that’s already taken hold in Astros lore.