World Series 2022

World Series 2022 – Philadelphia vs Houston

By David A. Avila

As expected, the Houston Astros battled to the top of the American League heap while unexpectedly the Philadelphia Phillies knocked off the favorites to rep the National League in this year’s World Series.

No surprise when it comes to playoff baseball.

The Astros were one of the super-powers of Major League Baseball and the only one of the four 100-game winners to remain upright on the slippery landscape of playoff baseball. The Phillies won 87 games and like many playoff winning teams in the past, they got hot and knocked off the St. Louis Cardinals, Atlanta Braves and the San Diego Padres.

Anything can happen in the World Series.

Unlike the other 100-game winning teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves or New York Mets, the Astros had no shortage of pitching whether in the starting rotation or the relief corps.

The Astros hitting attack remained constant and never slumbered like the other teams that fell this year. Cough, cough L.A. Dodgers.

Back in March, it was apparent the Philadelphia Phillies were an offensive powerhouse with Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins, Nick Castellanos, and J.T. Realmuto firing on all cylinders. Though not armed with an abundance of pitching, sometimes do or die situations bring the best out of the mediocre.

As Hall of Fame great Pedro Martinez once said, those not so famous pitchers drive nice cars too.

Get hot and stay hot is the key to World Series success.

Last year, the Astros were beaten by the powerful Atlanta Braves. In 2019 they were beaten by the Washington Nationals who were not the winningest team but the hottest.

Have the Astros figured out how to win in the World Series without a trash can?

Houston manager Dusty Baker has won more games than any other active manager and knows a thing or two about piloting a team through the playoffs. Will this be the year he finally wins the World Series?

National League champion Philadelphia fired their original manager way back on June 3, and replaced him with Rob Thomson. At the time the Phillies were mired with a losing record and on the verge of tumbling toward the bottom of the powerful NL East division under former manager Joe Girardi. The ship was righted and the Phillies got hot and began to sizzle in September right into the World Series.

Can the Astros top tier pitching cool the Philly bats?

Houston led the AL in all pitching stats including team ERA. Despite losing ace Justin Verlander for an extended period of time, the Astros continued to blaze past everyone with a rotation consisting of Cristian Javier, Jose Urquidy, Framber Valdez and Lance McCullers.

Verlander is back and will start Game One for the Astros.

Aaron Nola starts for Philadelphia and will be followed by Zack Wheeler and Ranger Suarez. It’s not a deep starting rotation and their defense has not drawn raves. But their hitting attack led by Harper can ruin a pitcher’s sleep.

Will Houston’s superior pitching and defense prevail? Or will Philadelphia’s hitting prowess lead the way?

Tonight, it begins.