The Yankees will join the Cubs in that sports bar, watching the World Series
There you have it: the home team won all seven games in the series. Justin Verlander, as predicted, was the series MVP.
Every Astro had a hit and two of them homered, but offense was barely necessary. Against all expectations, the Astros pitchers held the Yankees to three hits and no runs. They only used two pitchers. Charlie Morton started and went 5; Lance McCullers handled the last four. The Yankees' Sabathia had some trouble finding the plate and left in the fourth. The decision to pull the big guy that early, after allowing only one run, may have been controversial in a close game, since his bullpen immediately faltered in the fifth, but it really didn't matter because his teammates never scored a single run.
The Dodgers are favored in the WS, but not dramatically. The small edge is basically attributable to the home field advantage for Big Blue. The Dodgers are obviously very strong, but Houston will have their two aces rested by the time the WS starts, and that evens things up a bit.
By the way, this will be the first time since 1970 that the World Series has featured two 100-game winners. That's a long drought. The culprit there is the extra layer of playoffs, which reduces the likelihood that the best teams will make it in, and occasionally allows some mediocre teams to emerge as World Champions when the ball bounces in their favor. (The 1987 Twins, for example, allowed more runs than they scored during the season, yet managed to be the last team standing, while the 2006 Cardinals barely cleared .500 during the season.)
No comments:
Post a Comment