The Houston Astros very nearly completed a comeback from a 3-0 hole against the Tampa Bay Rays.

They lost in Game 7 of the ALCS on Saturday night.

The Astros were ridiculed, roasted and ripped all year long under a large, dark cloud after the revelations of the scope of the team's scheme to steal opponents' signs with a center-field camera and relay them to Houston's batters, partly by banging a trash can.

"The legacy of this group is that these guys are ballplayers, and these guys are men," Dusty Baker said. "They've been through a whole bunch other than on the ballfield, and these guys can forget whatever problems that they've had that's out there and come together as a group. These guys will be forever friends."

Houston won two of the previous three American League pennants and the 2017 World Series championship.

"I've never had so much fun playing baseball as I did with this group of guys," Carlos Correa said. "Everything -- the pandemic hit, spring training 2.0, everything, we didn't fold. We kept battling."