HOUSTON -- Yordan Alvarez didn¡¯t know he was in for a big night in Game 6 of the World Series, but apparently everyone else around him had an inkling what was about to happen.

Long before Alvarez hit a majestic 450-foot home run that all but sealed the Astros¡¯ World Series title with a 4-1 win over the Phillies on Saturday, he was approached by three key members of this soon-to-be championship team, all with the same message.

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It started hours before first pitch with Jose Altuve, who stopped Alvarez as he was entering the clubhouse.

¡°'My dad told me you¡¯re going to be the man of the game,'¡± Alvarez said through an interpreter, recalling what Altuve had said to him. ¡°'You¡¯re going to win this game today.'¡±

Alvarez then walked into the clubhouse, ¡°and [Alex] Bregman said the same thing to me,¡± Alvarez said, laughing. ¡°And then I started getting a little nervous.¡±

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It didn¡¯t end there. While shagging fly balls during batting practice, he noticed manager Dusty Baker looking his way.

¡°Hey big guy, you¡¯re the man today,¡± Baker said to him.

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So count at least three people -- and 42,958 fans screaming with euphoria under a closed roof at Minute Maid Park -- as very unsurprised at what transpired in the sixth inning.

At the time, the Astros were down 1-0, but had slowly started creating their first traffic of any real significance on the basepaths off Phillies starter Zack Wheeler.

Mart¨ªn Maldonado, standing slightly closer to the plate than usual, may or may not have leaned into a pitch -- depending on your perspective -- that plunked him on the left arm.

Altuve beat out a ground ball to avoid a double play and advanced to third on a sneaky single up the middle by eventual World Series MVP Jeremy Pe?a.

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At that moment, Alvarez said, he felt a calm wash over him.

¡°I knew that was my moment,¡± Alvarez said. ¡°I had this peace of mind that I knew that was my moment. And it happened.¡±

¡°It¡± was one of the longest home runs ever hit in a World Series. It wasn¡¯t just that it traveled 450 feet to straightaway center -- it was the way it left the yard, landing above a batter¡¯s eye that stands more than 40 feet tall.

¡°I was hoping he didn¡¯t kill anybody,¡± closer Ryan Pressly said.

¡°I would need to hit it twice to hit it that far,¡± Bregman said.

Up until that moment, the Astros had no counterpunch for Wheeler. They managed four baserunners in five innings. Only one made it as far as second base.

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When the Astros finally produced a couple of baserunners in the sixth, Alvarez knew Phillies manager Rob Thomson was going to call on lefty Jos¨¦ Alvarado to face him.

Alvarez was ready.

¡°It¡¯s about faith for me,¡± he said. ¡°The first two at-bats, I had a plan, and things weren¡¯t really working out for me. When I saw Pe?a get that hit and Altuve got to third, I got some sort of peace out of that. I knew Alvarado was going to come into that game. I knew he was ready for me. I didn¡¯t look for anything. I didn¡¯t look at the iPad. I waited for my at-bat. I didn¡¯t go looking at anything.¡±

What did he see? A 98.9 mph fastball, which, in turn, is now on record as the fastest pitch he¡¯s ever homered off of in his career. And it's the second-longest World Series homer, per Statcast, which started tracking in 2015. Only Freddie Freeman¡¯s 460-footer in 2021 was longer.

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¡°It was a tough decision,¡± Thomson said. ¡°But I went with Alvarado. He beat 'em, he got behind Alvarez and, 99 mph fastball, he just beat him to the spot. That's what good hitters do sometimes.¡±

The Astros' dugout went nuts. Players spilled out over the railing in celebration.

Well, eventually.

¡°I was watching the video [later], and I was actually joking around with them,¡± Alvarez said of his teammates. ¡°They knew that I had hit the ball real hard, but not all of them thought the ball was gone. So they waited it out.

¡°I saw that some of them were waiting, that they didn¡¯t know the ball was gone. And then I said, ¡®What, you guys didn¡¯t trust that I had enough power to get that out?¡¯¡±

The homer elevated the rest of Alvarez¡¯s somewhat underwhelming postseason. In between his go-ahead homer that won Game 2 of the AL Division Series against the Mariners and this Game 6 homer that won the championship, Alvarez was 5-for-42 with four RBIs.

Few will remember all of those misses. What will follow Alvarez? The simple fact that he¡¯s the most terrifying hitter in a lineup filled with All-Stars. His reputation was further cemented with a towering home run, arriving just when the team needed it the most.

¡°It was about the moment,¡± Alvarez said. ¡°It was the right moment for that to happen, and that¡¯s what I did.¡±