HOUSTON — The best game of the 2019 World Series had real heroes and drama and pretty much all the ingredients associated with what makes October so special.

But this is baseball in 2019. You know with conspiracy theories about de-juiced playoff baseballs and presidents being booed and the Astros behaving badly from their executive suite to nearly every line they write in a press release and women revealing their breasts behind home plate and games that take a few seconds longer than forever.

This is 2019 and this is the bizarro World Series, so even the best game of the 115th edition on Tuesday night was overrun by the avenue at which strange bisects with crazy. Two young players replaced bat flips with bat handoffs to first-base coaches. An interference call, that underscored a stupid rule, led to a chain of events that left even the victor of that particular play — the Astros — furious with how long it took to reach the decision.

There was Max Scherzer who couldn’t lift his arm to make his scheduled start in Game 5, warming up in Game 6 after his manager said before the game that a relief role was not in play and now readying for his Willis Reed moment to start Wednesday’s Game 7.

And there is going to be a Game 7 after the Nationals piled on late to win Tuesday night’s Game 6 7-2 over the Astros because of perhaps the most unexpected occurrence of all — for the first time in baseball history, the first six games of a series were all won on the road. No NHL, NBA or MLB team has captured a championship round best-of-seven by winning all the road games — in 1929, with the circus at Madison Square Garden, all five Stanley Cup final games were held in Montreal and the Rangers won four of them.

On Tuesday night, the circus was at Minute Maid Park for Game 6, the zaniness doing much to overshadow Stephen Strasburg — remember the guy questioned about his toughness — adding to his growing October legend with 8¹/₃ brilliant innings and Anthony Rendon, who drove in five runs and was kind of the perfect person to excel in this game because he is so laid back you wonder if he even has a pulse.
Where to begin?

Strasburg was tipping his pitches in the first inning, according to manager Davey Martinez, was hit hard and gave up two runs before being counseled how to better disguise his efforts. One of the runs came on an Alex Bregman homer, which he celebrated by carrying his bat to first, where he fumbled an exchange with coach Don Kelly. The Nats went ahead 3-2 in the fifth on homers by Adam Eaton and Juan Soto, who decided to duel Bregman and successfully handed the bat to perhaps future Mets manager Tim Bogar.

Both Martinez and Astros skipper A.J. Hinch chastised their players for doing this, Bregman apologized to his team, Soto thought it was all kind of cool — so let’s remember he turned 21 on Friday.

And the zaniness at first base was just beginning. With a runner on first and no outs in the seventh and Washington still leading 3-2, Trea Turner hit a dribbler that pitcher Brad Peacock fielded, fired to first, the ball and Turner arriving in near unison, leading the ball and first baseman Yuri Gurriel’s mitt to go flying. It would have been second and third. But home-plate ump Sam Holbrook ruled interference.

Martinez and the Nats went, as you would expect, ballistic for several minutes. Eventually they asked to go to replay and, if not, to protest the game. Neither is allowed on a judgment call. But chief baseball officer Joe Torre said that before the series if a manager wants an interpretation of a rule they should ask and can get one.

So the umps went to the headset for more than four minutes. They were having trouble making contact with the ump back in Chelsea, Alan Porter. Hinch wondered what the problem could be considering Torre was sitting near his dugout, why not just ask him? The rule was made properly, the problem is the rule, which makes a righty hitter like Turner deviate to the runner’s lane in foul territory before hitting a base that is in fair territory. Turner was not in that lane.

This eventually led to Martinez — normally so placid — arguing with the umps and having to be restrained by nearly his whole coaching staff. Not long after the extended delay, Rendon hit a two-run homer off Harris. That calmed the Nats somewhat, but aggravated Hinch, who said, “It took a really long time for nothing to happen.”

That actually could be the sentiment about pretty much this whole World Series. Until Game 6 when a contest full of excellence and drama was waged — yet it is 2019, so the circus also was in town.