NOT TO BE

Astros fans spent the long, hot summer of 2019 dreaming of a night like this: a packed house, shouts and cheers and white-knuckle moments, culminating in a World Series celebration in front of home plate at Minute Maid Park.

Wednesday night’s celebration, however, belonged to the Washington Nationals, winners of Game 7 over the Astros, 6-2, to complete the unprecedented accomplishment of winning four road games to become World Series champions.

For an Astros team and a fan base conditioned to anticipate excellence, it was a moment that will linger in bitter memory, the mirror image of the Astros celebrating their 2017 title at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Washington’s triumph, meanwhile, will be remembered as breathtaking in its scope, a historic triumph for a city that spent three decades without Major League Baseball before the Montreal Expos moved to the nation’s capital in 2005.

Four times the Nationals took the field in Houston wearing their lucky blue alternate jerseys, and four times they prevailed. They won Games 1 and 2 last week and, after dropping three games in Washington, D.C., took Game 6 on Tuesday, 7-2, and Game 7 for the first World Series title in franchise history.

Pushed to the limit, the Astros took the field Wednesday night wearing the bright orange tops they wore in 2017’s Game 7 win, and their performance through six innings gave a crowd of 43,326 hope that home field advantage at last would prevail.

But Nationals designated hitter Howie Kendrick clanked a two-run home run off the right field foul pole in the seventh, enabling the Nationals to rally from a one-run deficit in a game that was dominated through the middle innings by Astros starter Zack Greinke.

At the final out, it was the Nationals storming the field, celebrating in the heart of downtown Houston as the Astros looked on from their dugout before filing into their clubhouse, their season done.

“There's 28 other teams that would love to have our misery today,” said manager A.J. Hinch. “It’s hard to put into words and remember all the good that happened because right now we feel as bad as you can possibly feel.”

Inside the quiet clubhouse, Alex Bregman sat on the floor, with shortstop Carlos Correa resting his head on Bregman’s knee, before both rose to speak of a season that offered such brilliance, opportunity and disappointment.

“They outplayed us. They deserve this,” Bregman said of the Nationals. “They have beasts on the mound and position players who grind it out every day. But I’m proud of this team and every guy in this clubhouse. We got knocked down today, but we’ll be back for 2020.”

Greinke held the Nationals to one hit through 6 1/3 innings but surrendered a seventh-inning homer to Anthony Rendon, the former Lamar High School and Rice University third baseman, and walked Juan Soto before being lifted for reliever Will Harris.

Kendrick reached out on Harris’ second pitch and sliced it to right field, hitting the foul pole near its base to give the Nationals their first lead.

Washington was within striking distance in large part because of the Astros’ inability to capitalize off Max Scherzer, the Nationals’ veteran righthander who was scratched from his Game 5 start because of nerve issues that produced neck spasms.

Unable to dress himself on Sunday before receiving a cortisone shot that eased his symptoms, Scherzer powered his way through 103 pitches in five innings, surrendering a second-inning home run to first baseman Yuli Gurriel and a run-scoring single in the fifth by shortstop Carlos Correa but stranding nine baserunners.

Scherzer gave way to lefthander Patrick Corbin, who pitched three scoreless innings as the Nationals added an insurance run in the eighth and two more in the ninth. Daniel Hudson pitched the ninth to ring down the curtain on the 2019 Astros.

It concluded a season in which everyone from sharp-eyed odds-makers to sharp-tongued pundits to the average Joe walking down Texas Avenue wearing an orange Justin Verlander jersey took it as an article of faith that the Astros were mortal locks.

That they fell short represents a combination of superior play by a hungry, young Nationals team and underperformances at critical moments with runners in scoring position by the Astros.

Their two Cy Young Award-worthy pitchers, Verlander and Gerrit Cole, were unable to record a victory against the Nationals, and the guts of their lineup produced on the road but was silenced at home.

“Some things you can’t explain,” said second baseman Jose Altuve. “The thing about baseball is that nothing is guaranteed. You have to make it happen, and they (the Nationals) played really good.”

Given the hype and hopes that accompanied the Astros as the playoffs began, their sudden downfall will be felt as keenly as any of the myriad disappointments that have vexed Houston teams.

The Astros entered October on a roll, having won a franchise-record 107 games with a lineup led by Bregman, arguably the American League’s Most Valuable Player, and Yordan Alvarez, the probable AL Rookie of the Year, and with 20-game winners in Verlander and Cole plus a third ace in Greinke, acquired in a trade deadline deal with the Diamondbacks.

But the offense struggled in the Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, who forced the issue to a decisive fifth game, and throughout most of the six-game American League Championship Series against the Yankees before devolving into their hot-and-cold World Series performance.

With the season’s end, the Astros will go their separate ways, and next year’s roster could look considerably different. Cole and Harris are among the free agents, and several players face salary arbitration.

“We’ll still have our core talent,” George Springer said. “You look around this locker room and see the nameplates, and a lot of us will be back.

“No team is ever the same, but I believe in the guys who are here, and I believe in the guys who will be here.”

The Astros also face the aftermath of former assistant general manager Brandon Taubman’s profane outburst to three female reporters in the team’s clubhouse after the ALCS clinching earlier this month.

Taubman was fired, but Major League Baseball is investigating the incident to determine if sanctions are warranted.

The business of baseball will continue as October recedes. But the games on the field are done.

“It feels really bad,” Hinch said. “This is going to sting for a really long time, and it should. But when everything, the dust settles, we’ll be very proud of the season we had, albeit one win short.”

For players and fans, the twin impostors of victory and defeat will return next spring, and all who play and all who cheer will count the moments until the time comes once more to run the risk and seize the chance to walk the fine line that separates victory from defeat.

Game 7: Nationals 6, Astros 2.

Summer is done.

Time to stow the bats and pack up the orange and blue memorabilia.

Time to brace for the cold autumn wind that awaited fans as they filed from Minute Maid Park.

Pitchers and catchers report in February. david.barron@chron.com twitter.com/dfbarron