Alex Bregman has been ready for the World Series for years. He showed it in Game 1.

Alex Bregman was the only player to score for the Astros Tuesday night, in a 3-1 loss to the Dodgers in Game 1 of the World Series. He was one of only three Houston batters to register a hit against the murderers’ row of Clayton Kershaw, Brandon Morrow, and Kenley Jansen — the trio that the Dodgers trotted out to secure their first win of a hoped-for four in this series.

In the top of the fourth inning, Bregman sent a fastball in the low-90’s over the wall for the Astros’ first and only run of the game. It was his third home run of the postseason, and tied the game.

Bregman hasn’t been a wallflower before this in the playoffs, in fact he’s been one of the few consistent highlights for Houston in each series. Between home runs to help clinch the ALDS, to a truly magnificent throw in the ALCS to keep the Yankees from scoring, Bregman has been on top of his game on both sides of the ball.

He might not have had the star power of Jose Altuve or Carlos Beltran heading into these playoffs, but his name recognition has been growing steadily all season and especially in these playoffs as he contributes in big moments for a team that has needed them every few games.

Back in 2015 when he was drafted with the second-overall pick by the Astros, Bregman said he was “ready to get to work.” That’s what any draftee would say, any kid right out of college with a head on his shoulders who just got drafted to play baseball professionally and make a good impression on a media call.

Around the same time, he also said “That’s all I ever want to do is focus on baseball. I’m ready to go rip” according to Mark Berman of FOX Houston. Again, that’s what anybody smart would say in that situation. He was ready for what was next.

In July 2016, he was the first person in the dugout for his debut major league game. Just before that, he was that season’s standout in the Futures Game, when he already felt like he was ready for the league. At the time, he said, “I feel close. I feel really close. I feel like I’m (close to) accomplishing one of my goals and that was to get to the big leagues this year.”

Just after that he hit a home run shy of the cycle, and two weeks later he was in the show.

Each step of the way he was ready.

At the beginning of this season, he showed up long before anybody else and had his spring training locker fully equipped before anyone else on the team was even on site. By that point, his role on the Astros was more or less secure as long as he kept his performance in line with what he did in 2016. Yet still, he was ready and confident. Yet again, his insistence that he was ready for the next big thing drove him to go above and beyond and have the wherewithal to tell people that was exactly what he was doing.

No punches pulled, not a whisp of bragging just to brag. Every step of the way Bregman believed that had what it took and was perfectly fine with saying that out loud if somebody asked. That’s not to say that Bregman has never showed contrition or self awareness about his position in baseball, because he did, but that he could be braggadocious with heart and spirit and sincerity too.

That’s the type of confidence Houston is going to need if they can pull a World Series win off. Not just the kind that any athlete can have in a big moment or a clutch spot.

But the deep-seated, rooted confidence that comes in the big moment. The one that counts more than anything else, the one that makes all of your past promises and words seem like they came directly from a corner-store fortune teller or that you sold something to the devil in exchange for all of your dreams to come true.

It’s an assuredness that few think they have, even less actually possess, and even less get to show off on a stage like this one.

And if the Astros beat the Dodgers at home in at least one game to take the World Series home to Houston, Bregman is going to be a big reason why. His home run might not have been a game-winner in Game 1, and it might not have been something people will remember for years to come, but it’s a piece that fits within his whole, and a sign of things to come.

Back at that Futures Game in 2016? Bregman also revealed that he had another goal for himself beyond just getting called up. He said, “the goal is to get to the big leagues and win this year and try and be on a team that wins a World Series.”

He might have been a year off with his expectations, but he and the Astros are a few wins away from making that prediction come true too.