Let’s widen the scope a little this week.
This year’s World Series between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers has been incredible, and none of the games were more incredible than Sunday night’s 13-12, 10-inning, five-hour thriller won by the Astros, which saw momentum yo-yo back and forth like a metronome. The teams combined to hit seven home runs in the game, and they’ve combined for 22 in the series, which is already a World Series record with at least one more game to be played.
Sunday’s victory gave Houston a 3-2 edge is the best-of-seven series, meaning the Astros need to win just one of the final two games to claim their first ever world championship. However, the series switches back to Los Angeles for the final two games, and the Dodgers are 5-1 at home this postseason while the Astros are just 2-4 on the road.
Houston is aiming at ending the series in Tuesday’s Game 6, as the Astros have Justin Verlander slated to start on the mound. The future Hall of Fame right-hander was acquired at the trade deadline for just this kind of moment, and Verlander was 5-0 during the regular season and is 4-0 in the postseason since arriving in Houston. He’ll be facing Dodgers curveballing left-hander Rich Hill, who was somewhat controversially removed after four innings in Game 2 despite allowing just one run and striking out seven.
If the Dodgers win Game 6, the Game 7 starters are yet to be determined, but it would seem to be set up for Yu Darvish for Los Angeles and Lance McCullers for Houston, neither of whom pitched particularly well in Game 3. However, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of availability the Astros may have with Game 4 starter Charlie Morton, while the Dodgers could toy with the possibility of having Game 5 starter and staff ace Clayton Kershaw available out of the bullpen for an inning or two.
This has been a fantastic series between a pair of 100-win teams. Whoever emerges on top will be a worthy winner, and whoever loses should feel no shame. Who do you think will grab the title?
Game 5 starts at 5:20 p.m. Tuesday, so this poll will be cut off earlier than usual. Make sure you get your vote in early this week.
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