3 things we learned from the Astros’ win over the Red Sox on the way to the ALCS

In Game 4 of the ALDS, the Astros got the job done on their second try and eliminated the Red Sox from the playoffs. Boston rallied to try and push things to five games but couldn’t hold on to the one lead it had. Here are three things you should know about the series and the teams involved.

The Astros offense is wildly good.

Boston was probably always going to lose this series after dropping the first two games. Despite its momentary reprieve thanks to a Game 3 win that gave Boston fans hope and let the Red Sox avoid making the bad kind of history in a series sweep, the players could tell they didn’t really have a shot. The fans could too, even when it seemed for a second like Boston was going to rally again at the end of Game 4.

It’s rare for opposing fans (especially Boston fans) to kind of be OK with that fact, but with Fenway Park half full on Monday with damp, only slightly hopeful fans, that’s certainly the feeling that came across.

Brian McCann is the Astros’ No. 9 hitter, after all. He didn’t do much in the ALDS with only two hits, but he’s an average-to-above-average hitter depending on the season, and the fact that he’s last in their lineup tells you all you need to know about the talent they have from top to bottom.

They also make sure to confirm that they are indeed scary at every turn. Oh, you’re worried about Jose Altuve reaching for a great pitch and lining a double into right field with two outs left in the inning? He’ll do that. Have a bad feeling about Carlos Correa hitting a home run right after your team takes the lead? He’ll also do that.

In four ALDS games, the Astros lineup went 49-for-147 for a team batting average of .333. Near the end of the final game, the broadcast booth called the Astros lineup “relentless,” and there’s not really a better word to describe it. The Astros were no slouches in the regular season, but now they’re up against better competition and in a high-pressure situation, and they’ve barely slowed down.

It’s not all the fault of Boston’s pitching, but it didn’t help much.

While the Astros might have won the series even if Boston had five Chris Sales, they shellacked the Red Sox in the first two games and came back in the fourth with authority. And that wasn’t just because their bats were hot. There were points at which Boston’s hurlers gave them free passes, but not so many that credit should be completely taken away from Houston.

However, the Red Sox are going to have to figure something out for next year if they want to make a deeper run than this season’s showing.

Chris Sale saved their season and got them to a division win by virtue of being Chris Sale (with an assist by Dirty Craig and the Boys in the bullpen), but as they painfully learned, he can’t do everything by himself in the playoffs (although pitching four-plus innings in relief is something he can do). If he has one rough start (as in, ahem, Game 1) then it’s a tough hole to be in early.

Whether it’s under the guiding eye of current manager John Farrell or somebody else who replaces him in the offseason, the team probably already knew that it would have to make some shifts in its rotation and pick up some new talent in the offseason.

There were also things this season — David Price being hurt — that the Red Sox couldn’t avoid. However, there are things they could have avoided — like Rick Porcello’s pitch judgement or Doug Fister consistently giving up easy runs early or Drew Pomeranz’s lack of control — that sunk them too.

Again, this isn’t breaking news when it comes to Boston’s pitching talent and it was probably already heading toward this conclusion before the regular season was even over. This series simply reinforced the need for that section of Boston’s roster to get an upgrade before next year.

The Astros should win the World Series.

It might seem too early to call this (and I even predicted the Red Sox to beat them in this series) but after their performance in Boston, it’s hard not to look at this team and think they have everything it takes to not only get there but win too.

The only other team that has looked nearly as good in this postseason is the Dodgers, but their current combination of players hasn’t had a flawless playoffs that can’t be capitalized on. So if Houston and LA happens to face off in the Fall Classic, I wouldn’t count them out at all.

The Indians, Yankees, Cubs, and Nationals have all looked supremely beatable, and the Astros have proved that they can handle a challenge. In their loss against the Red Sox, the Astros still scored first and kept things close until the seventh frame before letting up Boston’s final four runs.

Especially in Game 4, the Astros’ fight was also apparent. A lot of ink has been spent on Cleveland and Boston’s ability to come back in games, and rightly so. But the Astros can do that too, and they didn’t get as much press for that in the regular season.

When Boston punched, the Astros punched right back and with more oomph. They withstood rallies, smothered hopes, and then piled on some more just to make sure the job was done and they could move on to the next game.

If that doesn’t sound like the makings of a World Series winner, then what does? They’re not a 100 percent lock because that’s not how sports work, and if that was how sports worked, everybody could gamble easily, and we’d all be rich. But the Astros look great and have proved their case even more thoroughly than they had a month ago.