Astros' Dusty Baker on Reaching World Series: 'I Believe in the Impossible'

The Tampa Bay Rays hold a 3-1 series lead over the Houston Astros in the American League Championship  Series, but Astros manager Dusty Baker isn't counting his team out just yet—even if his reasoning doesn't exactly exude confidence. 

"Hey man," Baker said, per USA Today's Bob Nightengale. "I believe in the impossible." 

The World Series might have seemed impossible for the Astros after their regular season. Houston and the Milwaukee Brewers each entered the postseason with 29-31 records, becoming the only other sub-.500 teams to do so after the 1981 Kansas City Royals. 

It was another twist of fate Wednesday night when Baker led the Astros to a tight 4-3 victory that saved Houston from elimination in its fourth ALCS in as many seasons. Nightengale reported that Baker, in his first season in charge of the Astros, told his team Wednesday that he wasn't ready to head home, and the 71-year-old gave a pep talk to Jose Altuve—who made a pair of costly errors in Game 3—that compared him to Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan. 

Only one team in MLB history has overcome a 3-0 series deficit: the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who beat the New York Yankees in the ALCS before winning their first World Series in 86 years. Baker believes the Astros will be the second.

"I'm not ready to go home," Baker said after Game 4. "Nobody's ready to go home. We're ready to go to Dallas."

Game 5 of the ALCS is Thursday at 5:07 p.m. ET.