KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The sight of Houston Astros players popping champagne bottles and guzzling beer on the mound at Yankee Stadium after winning the AL Wild Card Game did not bother general manager Jeff Luhnow, even if it might have prompted criticism by some observers.
Not long ago, the Astros were losing more than 100 games a season, and almost nobody saw them contending in 2015. This was a lose-and-go-home moment against the flagship franchise of Major League Baseball, at Yankee Stadium, which followed a fun but emotionally taxing playoff drive. And they made it through.
"It was worthy of them celebrating -- it was the playoffs," Luhnow said before Game 1 of the ALDS.
All that the Astros won in New York was a chance to stay alive, which is all any of the eight teams remaining in the field need in order to win the World Series. And that's what the Astros are after.
"These guys know our goal is to win championships," Luhnow said. "We've got a shot now. We're one of eight teams left. It's anybody’s for the taking. Even if you're in the wild card, as we saw last year with Kansas City, then you can go pretty deep. We're going to try and prove that again this year."
Astros manager A.J. Hinch acknowledged that his team celebrated without limitations after beating the Yankees. But not to the extent that it should ruin their focus going forward.
"I have no doubt whatsoever our guys know how to show up ready to play," Hinch said. "We're not a group of partying guys. We've lived it up, having made the playoffs and then having won the wild card. But when it's game time and guys are showing up ready to play, we know the seriousness of what's going on.
"We're going to still be a loose team. You're still going to see us act like kids sometimes because of the environment that we have and some of the looseness that we have. But when the first pitch is made and Altuve is in the box, partying's over. The competing is on."
It's a far cry from 111 losses in 2013, and even 92 a year ago. Luhnow cited the arrival and development of rookie shortstop Carlos Correa, the improvement of pitchers Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh, and the team's bullpen pitching with dominance -- particularly in the first half -- as reasons the Astros have gone from bottom of the barrel to (near) the top of the heap.
"The emergence of Carlos came a little sooner than even I anticipated," Luhnow said. "Him being able to come up in early June and play well, being in position to get into the third spot in the lineup stay there for the rest of the year. That was huge. And he just makes really good decisions for 20-year-old, now 21. He doesn't try to get a double play when he knows there's no shot at getting the second out. He gets the right outs. He makes good swing decisions at the plate."
Luhnow was among the few who were openly optimistic about the Astros before the season started. They have paid back his faith.
"I believed that this team would be a winning team," Luhnow said. "And once you're a winning team, you got a shot at the wild card, or potentially the division depending on how it plays out. But yeah, I believed in these guys. I knew that a lot was going to have to go right, and a lot did go right for us to be able to compete. But yeah, I thought these guys had a chance this year."
