The Houston Astros find themselves in relatively unfamiliar territory in the 2023 ALCS. It has been three years since they trailed a series 2-0. That's where they find themselves now after getting beat twice by the Texas Rangers at home. Houston has been good at getting out to series leads throughout their stretch of dominance but now find themselves approaching the ropes.

The Rangers held on to a 5-4 win in Game 2 after snatching the series opener by a score of 2-0. Try as Yordan Alvarez might — and he is working his tail off for the Astros, hitting no-doubters despite being ill — the Astros need to sharpen up all around if they want to beat the team they stole the AL West title from.

Astros: Bregman remains confident

Astros third baseman Alex Bregman isn’t losing any confidence in his squad despite the deficit they face heading to Globe Life Field, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.

“I think we’re a good ballclub,” Bregman said, via MLB.com. “Home, road, wherever, I think it comes down to execution. They’ve got a heck of a team. The margin for error is a lot slimmer when you’re playing a good team.”

The Astros found that out the hard way in Game 1 when Jose Altuve got doubled up on a base-running blunder. The star second baseman has yet to tally a hit this series (though he does have a walk) while Kyle Tucker has only reached base on a fielder's choice. Framber Valdez had a poor start in Game 2, failing to make it out of the third inning. A strong start by Justin Verlander in the previous night — just two runs in 6.2 innings — was outdone by Jordan Montgomery, who recorded one fewer out but allowed no runs.

According to Hoch, Astros general manager Dana Brown recently surmised that complacency in home settings can hurt teams and that getting booed in road environments can be motivational. The ‘Stros will have to put that theory to the test in order to keep their title defense going.

Unless they want to try to take the '04 Boston Red Sox route and pull off the improbable, the Astros must win Game 3 on Wednesday.