Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve’s Incredible Friendship Powers More Astros October Magic — Baseball’s Version of Brady and Gronk Takes a Backseat to No One

It can only be Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa. It’s forever Carlos and Jose, marching the Houston Astros into history, playing more postseason games together than any other second baseman and shortstop combination in baseball’s long history, carrying each other along on the wings of friendship. Carlos Correa is almost always loud. Jose Altuve is usually quiet. Correa loves bat flips, demonstrative gestures and every type of swag. Jose Altuve usually just drops his bat and speeds around the bases.

But the two pillars of sports’ most underrated dynasty are more alike than dissimilar. Especially where it counts most.

“Even though I don’t do any bat flip or nothing, I’m really happy about the homers I hit because I’m helping the team to win,” Altuve says.

Altuve is talking in the bowels of Minute Maid Park after another unforgettable Astros’ October night. He is wearing a simple black Dior shirt and black jeans. About 15 minutes later, Carlos Correa will take the same seat Altuve used to sit in front of the same microphone. Everyone’s favorite free agent to be has pulled on a blue smiley sunflower face sweatshirt.

Correa and Altuve save the capes for the field.

On this night, they both go boom to bring the Astros back, turning a 3-1 deficit into a 5-4 win that transforms Minute Maid Park into an absolute madhouse of loud, proud, unfettered joy. The Boston Red Sox come into this American League Series full of confidence, certain they’ve survived the American League East gauntlet (having already dispatched of the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays in these playoffs).

But they end the night, marveling at the team that few in baseball ever seem to want to give credit to. And specifically the at-bats of Altuve and Correa.

“Two swings changed the course of the game,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora says.

Not just two swings. Two October swings from Altuve and Correa, the forever friends who dominate October together.

“Those guys have been together for a long time,” the Astros baseball lifer of a manager Dusty Baker says of Altuve and Correa. “They know each other. It’s kind of like Tom Brady and (Rob) Gronkowski. They know how they think. They know probably what they eat for dinner, what they like and what (their) kids like.

“It’s a special relationship that will last forever.”

Even when Correa (a $350 million plus free agent to be) is likely playing for another team next season. You do not win this many big games together without building a bond that can overcome almost anything.

“We are always talking about the game,” Altuve says. “We are on the field, but we’ve got good relationship off the field too. Like I said, he’s amazing. Great player. Great human being. And I’m glad that I get to play next to him.”

It’s almost fitting that Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, another unforgettable Astros duo, is watching this game, these dual shots of Altuve and Correa magic, sitting right next to each other. And Biggio and Bagwell absolutely lose their minds, putting their hands over their mouths, when Correa homers just like everyone else in Minute Maid who is not a Hall of Famer.

Carlos Correa And the Art of October

Carlos Correa knows the ball is heading into the Crawford Boxes, screaming right towards the Boston Red Sox’s throats. So Correa pauses for a very long moment at home plate. The Houston Astros energizer is not admiring his work. He does not even look at the soaring baseball. Instead, he taps on his wrist and screams “It’s my time!”

It is these ever determined, ever October clutch Houston Astros’ time.

“Even though I don’t do any bat flip or nothing, I’m really happy about the homers I hit because I’m helping the team to win.” — Jose Altuve

Despite finding out they’re going to be without an ace in this American League Championship Series, despite falling down 3-1 to a dangerous Boston Red Sox team in Friday night’s Game 1, the Astros find a way to stitch together another postseason W. They bring back the late inning magic to Minute Maid Park, stun the once rolling Red Sox by turning a late deficit into a 4-3 lead and an eventual 5-4 win. After a little scare in the ninth.

Jose Altuve hits a two run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie it. And Carlos Correa goes boom with two outs in the seventh (down to his last strike) to give Houston its first lead since the second inning. The lead it needs in another odyssey of a game that clocks in at more than four hours. And does not end until the clock strikes 11:16 pm in Houston.

Tanner Houck is arguably the Red Sox’s most talented pitcher — and it’s not even that close of an argument. Houck is the  6-foot-5 flamethrower with game changing stuff. Only, Jose Altuve changes the game off him. The heart and soul of the Astros sends the first pitch that Houck throws him (a 84 MPH slider that catches way too much of the plate) soaring high above the Crawford Boxes.

Suddenly, after being a step or three behind all night, the Astros find themselves locked in a 3-3 tie in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. Suddenly, Minute Maid Park is going absolutely bonkers. And this time, it’s not just the nuns (more on that later). All by the power of Altuve.

Altuve’s now has 20 postseason home runs, tied for third all-time with Derek Jeter (only Altuve’s done it in less than half as many playoff at-bats as Jeter).

“His track record in the playoffs is insane,” Correa says of his running buddy. “And (Jose) just inspires me. He inspires me without saying much. When I walk into that clubhouse in Spring Training and I see this guy that has won MVPs, Silver Sluggers, batting titles, Gold Glove, you know, Hank Aaron Awards. Every single award you can imagine, he has won it. . . and then he shows up to Spring Training wanting to work on different things to get even better.

“If that doesn’t inspire you, I mean, I don’t know what will. When you have the best player of your team, that captain, that franchise player that everybody looks up to working that hard, it’s just contagious.”

What a difference being clutch in the late innings makes.

Biggio and Bagwell absolutely lose their minds, putting their hands over their mouths, when Correa homers just like everyone else in Minute Maid who is not a Hall of Famer.

Early on in this game, the Red Sox are having fun, rollicking around Minute Maid. Kiki Hernandez gets a wild ride in a laundry cart, right down the aisle of the dugout, after hitting  a mammoth home run to center field off Astros starter Framber Valdez. (He’ll add a second dinger in the ninth of Astros closer Ryan Pressly.) Hunter Renfroe doubles down the third base line, just past a diving Alex Bregman’s extended glove, to drive in another run.

Alex Cora’s team is feeling it, seemingly happy to not be playing another American League East death match.

A Familiar (and Beyond Special) Astros Scene

The Astros have been to the American League Championship Series so often recently (five straight appearances) that the whole scene sort of comes across as routine on this night. At least early on. The crowd takes its time showing up — and while the enthusiasm’s real, it sometimes seems a little perfunctory. Of course, in reality, a run like this is anything but routine. Or guaranteed to continue.

These are Houston sports moments to treasure — from the team that keeps defying the odds of regression and delivering them.

The game operations staff does its part. There are new flashing lights framing the Phillips 66 home run gas pump in left centerfield. And the large group of nuns cheering for the Astros high in the upper deck brings plenty of smiles. And yes, contrary to popular belief, nuns can be loud. Very loud.

Former Astros spark plug Josh Reddick could not be more enthusiastic throwing out the first pitch either. Reddick even shows up wearing the wrestling championship belt that he used to pass around in the Astros’ clubhouse. Along with a tight-fitting Spiderman shirt.

Reddick still knows how to play the part. And so do these Astros.

The Astros know they’ll play this series without Lance McCullers Jr., the only 1A ace left on an Astros team that was full of them during those 2017 and 2019 World Series runs. When McCullers arm started hurting in that clinching win over the White Sox, the Astros lost a l0t.

The loss seems even more stark after Valdez, the closest thing the Astros had to an ace during that bizarre 2020 COVID postseason, can only get eight outs in Game 1. The Astros will be scrambling for answers all night, seemingly one step behind the Red Sox at almost every turn.

Until Altuve. Until Correa. Until two shots of October magic. Astros style. Until two friends grab the night. Together. Like always.