The 2017 World Series is shaping up to be an exciting finale to an already
thrilling Major League Baseball postseason.
This year’s installment of the Fall Classic represents the first World Series meeting between two 100-win teams in 47 years.
Much like the 2016 World Series with the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros don’t represent the typical archetypes of perennial title winners.
The Dodgers may be the third most successful organization in the National League with regard to the number of World Series titles won, but recently the franchise has been synonymous with underperforming in the postseason.
In fact, the Dodgers have reached the playoffs in six of the last nine seasons, but are appearing in their first World Series since 1988.
Unlike Los Angeles, the history of Houston is mired in subpar teams and flat-out
disappointment. 100-loss teams were a norm for the Astros just four years ago, and the organization is seeking its first World Championship win in franchise history after appearing in the Fall Classic only one other time in 2005.
The World Champion title has also eluded the two pitchers at the center of each team’s starting staff.
Justin Verlander played in two Fall Classics with the Detroit Tigers but is still without a ring. Verlander was acquired by the Astros minutes before this season’s trade deadline on Aug. 31 and has quickly made his mark in Houston’s rotation.
The Astros’s ace most recently recorded 21 strikeouts in the American League Championship Series and held the opposing New York Yankees to one run in 16 innings of play.
Clayton Kershaw will be pitching in his first career World Series when he takes the mound for the Dodgers in game one.
Although he missed part of the regular season after suffering a back injury, Kershaw performed impressively in the National League Championship Series against the Cubs pitching a total of 11 innings in two starts.
He finished with an earned run average of 2.45 and a walks plus hits per innings pitched average of 0.82.
The remainder of each team’s pitching rotation is nothing to sneeze at either.
Los Angeles pitcher Yu Darvish and Houston pitcher Dallas Keuchel provide a stellar level of consistency behind Kershaw and Verlander, and as a staff, the Dodgers finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in team ERA while the
Astros finished ranked No. 6.
If you think drawing comparisons between the starting pitchers is like splitting hairs, good luck finding an offensive advantage.
Houston led the MLB in runs scored and had the lowest strikeout rate in baseball. Conversely, Los Angeles ranked No. 6 in on-base percentage and No. 8 in slugging percentage.
The x-factor here may be Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager who injured his back earlier in the postseason but is returning to the roster in time for game one. Seager is rejoining Dodger stars Yasiel Puig and Justin Turner in the lineup which should provide interesting parity against Astro sluggers Jose Altuve, Alex
Bregman and Carlos Correa.
To continue to seek an advantage between either team in the stat book is a fool’s errand. We’re talking about October baseball. Heck, we’re talking about the World Series. Statistics will fall to the wayside, and the game of inches will be at the mercy of the twists and turns of random chance.
But that’s what, arguably, makes baseball so great.
