HOUSTON — The dynasty Yankees need their Mercury Morris.

Maybe Jorge Posada or Orlando Hernandez or just the face of those years, Derek Jeter.

Morris pops champagne annually to celebrate when the last undefeated NFL team loses to assure no one will match the 1972 Dolphins’ undefeated season. The Yankees need to designate a similar figure to spill some bubbly when yet another defending champion fails to repeat.

Because we are now at 23 seasons without a champion going back-to-back since the 1998-2000 Yankees three-peated. Many words were invested to exalt those great teams. Perhaps it was not enough, considering all that has followed.

The latest to fail to win in consecutive years is the Astros. They now represent the only team in any of the four major North American sports leagues to win all the road games in a seven-game series and be eliminated by losing all the home games. Twice.

They did so in dropping the 2019 World Series to the Nationals — Max Scherzer the opposing starter for Washington in the decisive Game 7.

And they did so in this 2023 ALCS — Scherzer the opposing starter for Texas in the decisive Game 7.

History repeated.

The Astros did not.

So pour one out for those dynastic Yankees.

“It is a tough sport. It’s a tough game. It’s a marathon,” Astros manager Dusty Baker summarized after the Rangers routed his club 11-4 to clinch the AL pennant Monday night.

The NBA, NHL and NFL have had at least one repeat champion this century. So has the WNBA, major men’s and women’s college basketball and major college football.

But not MLB. Not since Jeter and Rivera and Tino and Bernie and El Duque and … That was the last group to defy multiple rounds. The last to completely shun the crapshoot theory.

The Astros melted before history because aside from Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez, their offense wilted. Plus, Cristian Javier, who in the first four playoff starts of his career had allowed two runs on five hits in 22 innings, lasted two outs Monday night, getting smashed for three runs on four hits, a walk and three stolen bases.

The righty put Houston behind and Texas would not stop adding to the lead because, basically, Adolis Garcia would not stop hitting home runs. His vengeance tour against the Astros included two more homers — that gives him seven this postseason — and he drove in five runs to send the Rangers to their first World Series since losing in consecutive years in 2010-11. Formed in 1961 as the Washington Senators, this franchise has never won the World Series.

They will get another chance beginning Friday at Globe Life Field versus either the Diamondbacks or Phillies. But the Rangers are in the Fall Classic because they are road warriors, now 8-0 away from home during these playoffs. That ties those 2019 Nationals and the 1996 champion Yankees for most road wins in one postseason.

The Astros will bemoan not being able to rise to the one home win that would have made them the first team since the 1998-2000 Yankees to simply make three straight World Series.

Baker surmised injuries, including Altuve fracturing a thumb at the World Baseball Classic, and the season-long loss of Lance McCullers Jr. and others created a grind from the outset that weighed on his club. He also mentioned that once you set the standard as champion other franchises are constantly upgrading to unseat you.

Houston third baseman Alex Bregman lamented that in the large-talent, high-stakes forum of October, there is “small room for error when you’re competing against the best teams in the world and we didn’t execute well enough.” Astros starter Justin Verlander cited that in sports like basketball, in particular, and football, the concepts/styles often lead to the best teams winning.

He added, “Baseball is very hot and cold, you can get hot at the right time and that’s why you see the wild-card teams the last few years being really dominant. Baseball’s unique that way. You get good pitching, you can beat anybody.”

The Rangers got enough from former Yankees Nathan Eovaldi and Jordan Montgomery, who excelled in this ALCS and each won two games. Montgomery won Game 7 with 2 ¹/₃ shutout innings of relief of Scherzer that bridged Texas from leading 4-2 to blowing the game open.

And Garcia — the central figure in a benches-clearing incident in Game 5 at Globe Life Field and the focus of Minute Maid Park derision — provided the offensive muscle. In Game 7, he had two homers, an RBI single, a two-run single and a stolen base.

He has homered in four straight games, helping the Rangers to overcome losing all three games at home in this-best-of-seven to dethrone a champion. The Astros have risen to reach the ALCS seven straight times. But have been unable to win back-to-back titles.

So repeat after me, we will have a new champion in 2023 — thus, hail once more to the dynastic Yankees. They can pop the cork again.