They're off to the World Series for a fourth time in six seasons, a remarkable feat of staying power for a franchise in any era of baseball history, let alone one that includes a 12-team playoff gauntlet filled with potential pitfalls.
Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. put it succiently on Sunday night: “This is not easy.”
Even so, the dichotomy that is this generation of Houston Astros will probably never go away.
They left no doubt that they're the best team in the American League this season, sweeping aside slugger Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees in four games after Sunday's 6-5 victory.