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Welcome back to starting nine episode 286.

It is the last episode that we will record before the World Series Dallas.

And as we were just discussing with Dr. Klaub before, we hit the record button.

We've only covered Astros ALCS's. We've been doing this since 2017.

It's our fifth postseason together and we've never covered an ALCS that was Astros-less.

Yeah, and I'm telling you, as soon as we started talking about that, it took me back to the take I had

last time we recorded, which was about the home field advantage for the Houston Astros and how,

because a lot has been talked about with Finway and it's nothing that you're not aware of,

nothing that I'm not aware of, but maybe people don't really truly understand and appreciate a

fan-basis presence and the kind of impact it can have on the game and on its players.

So when we think about the Astros and the ALCS run that they've been on five straight years,

you find out, you know, I don't want to say how they got there, but you find out that there

there was some help along the way at some point in time. And now just going back there and playing

there and pitching there and hearing those fans who for better or worse have been like, yeah,

whatever they cheated, who fucking cares? Go Astros! Let's go! Like they're getting that love

on top of the psyche that's affected when you go out there. Like I said, you start to give up a

runner-two or a knocker-two and it's not like you're giving up that runner, that knock in Detroit

or in Tampa. No, you're in Houston and you know what has happened in Houston and could it be happening?

Like that's what I mean by the home field advantage thing. So to think about the incredible run

that they've been on, it takes great players to be able to do this, to be able to dominate,

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