In the 118th edition of the World Series, the improbable will meet the undeniable.
The Philadelphia Phillies hovered around .500 for much of the summer, finished in third place in the National League East, and entered the postseason as the No. 6 and final seed in their bracket. October, it should be remembered, does not reward the best teams. It rewards the teams that play best. And who has been better than the Phillies? With a lightning strike home run from Bryce Harper, Philadelphia completed a rousing, five-game victory over San Diego in the National League Championship Series on Sunday to return to the Fall Classic for the first time since 2009.
The Houston Astros have been there much more recently. In finishing a four-game demolition of the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, the Astros earned their fourth appearance in the World Series in the past six seasons. The first led to the tainted title of 2017. In 2019 and 2021, the Astros entered as the heavy favorite, only to fall to an upstart team from the NL East.
Sound familiar?
Like the Nationals in 2019 and the Braves in 2021, the Phillies picked an optimal time to play their best baseball. The starting duo of Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola is impressive. The lineup features slugging threats like Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins and J.T. Realmuto. Harper has been a nightmare for opposing pitchers this postseason: five homers, 10 runs and a 1.351 OPS in 11 games.
When it comes to star power, Philadelphia can hold its own. What the roster lacks is depth. The Astros offer both. Houston won 106 games in 2022. The team has not yet lost a game in the postseason. Some rival executives believe this is the best Astros pitching staff assembled during the club’s recent renaissance. The top-line talent includes Justin Verlander, the likely American League Cy Young Award winner. The depth is just as notable: The Astros have fellows buried in their bullpen hierarchy who might close on other clubs. Manager Dusty Baker has demonstrated a steady hand at the switch, trusting his pitchers at a time when other clubs overcomplicate the process of securing 27 outs.
The Yankees had no answer for Houston’s relentlessness. The offense features several fixtures from the championship team: Jose Altuve bats leadoff, Alex Bregman hits cleanup and Yuli Gurriel slices singles behind them. The Astros’ most formidable bat is slugger Yordan Alvarez, who kept the club afloat with a pair of series-shifting home runs during a tight Division Series against Seattle.
When a club catches fire at this time of year, as the Phillies have done, the march to a title takes on a storybook quality. Philadelphia had disappointed for much of the season. The team fired manager Joe Girardi in June. His replacement, first-time skipper Rob Thomson, has pressed the right buttons and recognized the urgency of the moment in these playoffs. In Houston, the overlords of the American League for so many years now, Thomson’s team will face its biggest challenge yet. The improbable potency of Philadelphia will get its crack at the undeniable ability of Houston. It is a matchup that few predicted. It is a matchup even fewer can complain about.
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(Photo: Troy Taormina / USA Today
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2022-10-28 23:45:00Z
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