The Fall brings lots of different thing to us: like Halloween and it’s scares or Thanksgiving and it’s gratefulness. But none quite topple the Fall Classic, every year we gather around our TVs and watch the two best teams in baseball duel it out for the championship.
This year we are greeted by a familiar and unfamiliar face in the baseball world, the Houston Astros who have been in the World Series 3 of the 5 last years (Appeared in ALCS in all 5 seasons) and the Atlanta Braves who have made the World Series for the first time since 1999.
The World Series is a best of 7 series, in which the Astros will get the first two games at home, then the Braves get three at home, and the Astros will get the last two at home (Games 5-7 if necessary).
It’s been a while since my last The Up Dawg article, so I’m just gonna jump right into it.
The Astros quite possibly have built one of the most dominant franchises in recent memory, 5 straight ALCS’s, all of them they had a legitimate chance at making the World Series but twice they came up short. This Astros team all starts with their lineup, with their worst caliber hitter being Martin Maldonado (who’s had a bad offensive postseason but isn’t a horrible hitter). But Altuve, Brantley, Bregman, Álvarez, Correa, Tucker, Gurriel, steal the show as this team is just unmatched offensively. Combine that with a 3.76 team ERA, and 4.12 team FIP and you’ve built a team that could win any game. Of course they have their weaknesses, their rotation is considerably weak due to the absences of Justin Verlander and Lance McCullers Jr., but with such a great lineup and Graveman, Pressly, and others ready to go in the pen. You have created a serious monster which is hard to contend with.
Just being blunt, the Braves are not even remotely close to the Astros on paper, and it truly shocks me how the Braves ended up here. In my original season predictions I had the Braves making the World Series, mainly due to a Ronald Acuna Jr. MVP campaign, and a strong supporting cast following his lead. But Acuna had a season ending injury over the summer, and it looked to be wraps for this Atlanta team. But the front office made trade after trade, to keep the Braves in contention in the NL East. It lead to acquiring Eddie Rosario, Jorge Soler, Adam Duvall, Joc Pederson and Stephen Vogt. Eddie and Joe especially crushed the competition, and have come up big time in this years postseason. The pitching has held it’s own as well for the most part, trying to keep the dodgers in check this postseason. But the lineup with Freeman, Albies, Riley, Swanson and new additions has been stellar. This should put the Braves in a position to possibly win this series, except this time against a much worse staff (but better coached) Astros team.
But who will be the champion? Game by Game Breakdown:
Braves win Game 1
Astros win Game 2
Braves win Game 3
Braves win Game 4
Astros win Game 5
Astros win Game 6
Astros win Game 7
So, yes I know. 3-1 lead, haha very funny. A team winning it all after being down 3-1 in the WS has only happened 6 times. The most notable being the 2016 Chicago Cubs and the 1985 Kansas City Royals (who overcame a 3-1 lead in the ALCS and WS). Last year, the Braves blew a 3-1 lead in the NLCS to the Dodgers who would eventually win the WS, claiming the title for the first time since 1988.
But why would it happen again, why would the Braves blow another 3-1 lead in the later playoff rounds to crush fans? I don’t know, it’s baseball. The sport is wild, fun, random and the whole in between. I don’t want the Braves to blow a 3-1 lead, but I think their luck will come back around to bite them at the end of the day.
Who would win WS MVP though? I like Yordan Álvarez to win the award, who easily dominated the Red Sox pitching staff. He is the second hottest hitter on the planet right now, and he just so happens to be on the team I think will win it all, so I believe he has a crazy WS. Slashing .432/.534/.854, with 4 HRs.
Verdict: Astros in 7, WS MVP Yordan Álvarez
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