The Houston Astros are such a lethal team that there's no way anyone can count them out unless it's mathematically impossible for them to mount a comeback. They have earned this reputation by virtue of being one of the most feared playoff teams for the past nine years. However, on Monday night, the Astros' 2023 season finally met its demise after the Texas Rangers demolished them in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, 11-4.

Now, all the Astros can do is either play the what-if game and process what went wrong in their decision-making, especially after facing an early deficit against the Rangers, or move forward with the intention of redeeming themselves next season. The latter appears to be too big of an undertaking at the moment given how fresh the wounds of the playoff exit are, so the Astros are left to ponder what they could have done better.

At the very least, Astros manager Dusty Baker, who, according to recent reports, will be departing the team in the aftermath of their 2023 ALCS defeat to the Rangers, admitted that sometimes in the MLB Playoffs, things just don't fall kindly in one's favor. According to Adam Wexler of Sports Talk 790, Baker said that “falling behind early like they did makes it very tough against a good offensive team,” especially when those hitters have gotten accustomed to facing members of their pitching staff.

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That point isn't too difficult to contend. The Astros learned this the hard way, as the Rangers were squaring up a ton of balls at Minute Maid Park on Monday night. It didn't take long for the Rangers to get going, with Corey Seager, a member of the 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers team that fell short against the trash-can Astros, opening the scoring with a 440-foot home run to right-center field.

Dusty Baker simply wasn't able to push the right buttons when it comes to pitching replacements. After Cristian Javier allowed three runs, the Astros went with Phil Maton, Hunter Brown, and J.P. France, in that order. Brown and France ended up being disasters, with France notching just two outs while allowing four runs.

The Astros at least have the silver lining of knowing that they'll be back as contenders next year given the talent they have on the roster. They simply won't be having Baker at the helm anymore.