HOUSTON -- When they arrived at Minute Maid Park earlier on Tuesday, the Astros were not thinking about a Game 7, and they surely had no desire to actually play one. So there was no point in getting excited about the idea of a winner-take-all contest while they were in the process of attempting to wrap the World Series in Game 6.

But now that it's here -- a one-game showdown for all the marbles -- count the Astros as collectively enthused about what lies ahead on Wednesday night at Minute Maid Park.

"It would be an absolute dream come true to win it here in front of our fans that have been with us all year," Alex Bregman said, following the Astros' 7-2 Game 6 loss to the Nationals on Tuesday night.

If Houston does this, it will have bucked an unusual trend that has unfolded throughout the World Series. So far, the road team has prevailed in every game. This had never before happened in the first six games of a best-of-seven series. In fact, this is the first time in 1,420 best-of-seven series across the NHL, NBA and MLB that the road team has won each of the first six games.

“It’s crazy," Bregman said. "The road team just played better baseball in the first six games. Yeah, I don’t know what to tell you about that. I know everyone in here is looking forward to tomorrow."

• Bregman 'sorry' for carrying bat to 1st on homer

"We worked really hard to get home-field, and we're happy to play at home," manager AJ Hinch said. "We have no problem playing at home. This place will be rocking tomorrow. We've won a ton of games in this ballpark."

The Astros, winners of an MLB-best 107 regular-season games, have been here before. In 2017, Houston captured its first franchise championship after playing close to the maximum number of games a team can play in the postseason. The Astros won the pennant by topping the Yankees in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series, and they beat the Dodgers in Los Angeles in Game 7 of the World Series.

• 'Ran out of gas': JV still winless in World Series

Pressure is nothing new to this bunch.

"Even though we lost [Game 6], we are excited about going out there and making it happen," José Altuve said. "It's going to be a good day for us. We've been here before. That should help us."

Houston's roster looks different than it did in 2017, but a large chunk of the cast has remained unchanged. The club sees that experience level as an added advantage.

"We've been here before," said reliever Will Harris, who is completing his fifth year with the Astros. "My time here, we've had quite a few do-or-die games. I don't think it's anything different. It's something we're prepared for. I think everyone came to the park [for Game 6] expecting to play well and expecting to win. I don't think that changes coming into tomorrow."

• One mistake by Harris allows Rendon to pounce

As much as home-field advantage seemingly matters, road teams have fared better in clinchers lately. If Houston wins Game 7, it would be the first World Series clinched at home since Boston won it all at Fenway Park in 2013.

In fact, home teams are 0-4 in their last four chances to clinch the World Series. The Dodgers lost in 2017, the Indians lost in Games 6 and 7 in '16 and the Royals lost Game 7 in '14. But home teams were 9-0 in their previous nine chances before that.

The Astros envision themselves sitting on the right side of history when play concludes on Wednesday. They like their chances in an anticipated Zack Greinke-Max Scherzer matchup, and they plan to feed off the energy of the crowd, even if the support from the home fans hasn’t worked in their favor so far.

"If I had told you the series was going to be 3-3 going to a Game 7, I don't think there's a person in the building that would have assumed that all road teams were going to win," Hinch said. "We've just got to make sure that last one is not the same.

“We have a great opportunity tomorrow to play a home game, Game 7 of the World Series. Maybe not how we drew it up in terms of how we got there, but it doesn't take away the opportunity we have to win the World Series.”