“Houston, you have a problem,” was the mantra of the fans from Seattle before the Mariners played the Houston Astros in the 2022 American League Division Series.

Some shirts even replaced the third letter with a trash can. No need to explain why since the broadcasters made sure to bring it up every chance they got.

The Astros players heard the chatter loud and clear as they let their play do the talking. Houston made the pain last even longer by playing 18 innings in Game 3, winning by a score of 1-0 to sweep Seattle 3-0 in the series to advance to their sixth consecutive American League Championship Series. The Atlanta Braves (1991-99) is the only other team in history to accomplish that success.

As the Astros waited to see who their next opponent would be, a new mantra began from the fans of their A.L. rivals, the New York Yankees.

“We want Houston,” was bellowed out in Game 5 of the ALDS by the fans as New York was eliminating the Cleveland Guardians from the postseason at Yankees Stadium.

Once again, the Astros heard the chants and accepted the challenge. Houston swept the Yankees 4-0 in the ALCS to advance to their fifth World Series in team history.

Oh, and they eliminated New York in front of those same fans who had shouted their 2022 postseason mantra loudly at Yankees Stadium. You must be careful what you ask for because you might get it.

Houston is 7-0 this postseason and will now face the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series that will begin Friday at Minute Maid Park.

“It’s a long road to get here,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said about advancing to the World Series. “There’s a lot that happens in the months to get here from spring training. It means that we persevered, and we stayed together, and we made the necessary trades when we had to try to strengthen certain parts of our team. These guys are a very close-knit bunch of guys. That was on our minds the whole spring training is getting back to this point, and it’s a wonderful thing when you accomplish a goal. So, we got one more goal to go and then we can set some new goals.”

Since 2017, the Astros have played in more postseason games than any team in the Majors (79) and have more postseason wins (48-31, .608) than any A.L. club in that span.

Coming into the 2022 season, Houston knew that replacing such a polarizing figure in former shortstop Carlos Correa would be hard for the fans to accept, especially when he has been the anchor in the infield and a vocal leader on the field and the clubhouse.

Shortstop Jeremy Peña is no ordinary rookie and proved it by picking up where Correa left off. He was named an A.L. Gold Glove Finalist last week. He provided the winning run in Game 3, an 18-inning marathon in the ALDS. In the four-game sweep of the Yankees, he hit .353 to go along with his two home runs and four RBIs and was named ALCS MVP. He is only the fifth rookie to receive the award.

It may be safe to say that Houston may be fine at the shortstop position for a very long time.

“I always dreamed about being a big leaguer,” said Peña during his postgame press conference. “Grateful to be here. This is a blessed opportunity. We get to play this game every single day and now we’re going to make the best out of it.”