20.) The proposal.
It became a touchstone moment for the post-series celebration. Carlos Correa, working along with Ken Rosenthal, to perfectly segway his interview into a marriage proposal to his beautiful girlfriend Daniella Rodriguez. The moment was so perfect. Sure, it may seem a bit presumptious of Correa to hinge the timing of his proposal to the chance the Astros would win the series (likely, had they lost, he does this in December/January anyway) but it was a great moment. The best on-field proposal since the Boise State guy proposed to the cheerleader in 2007. Plus, Correa definitely splurged on that rock. Imagine what size it would have been had he not been making entry-level money due to baseball's inane salary restrictions.
19.) The Sports Illustrated Prediction
Starting around the time the Astros clinched the ALCS, the old Sports Illustrated cover from 2014 started trending, the one that predicted teh Astros would win the 2017 World Series. I remember that story, I have that issue (apparently the value of that issue has increased, a lot...). At the time it I ate it up, finally a sign that things may actually end up OK after years in the baseball wilderness. What's interesting is the life it took now. SI should get credit, sure, but there's a lot in that story that didn't end up coming true - mainly the pick of Mark Appel and the growth of Jon Singleton. Also, I never remembered such plaudits coming SI's way in 2015, when the Royals won after they wrote a story in 2011 saying the Royals would win the 2015 World Series. Basically, what I'm saying is Sports Illustrated should do this basically every year.
18.) The New Way to Bullpen
The most shocking part of the Astros 14-game odyssey in the ALCS and World Series is that they did it without ever having an effective bullpen. Both closer Ken Giles and new-closer Chris Devenski blew big leads in big games. Will Harris gave up hard hit after hard hit. The best reliever might have been Luke Gregerson. Of course, Hinch had the luxury of surplus starters, and used them like a magician. The three biggest 'saves' of the Astros postseason were by Lance McCullers (4 innings to close Game 7 of the ALCS), Brad Peacock (3-2/3 to close out Game 3 of the World Series) and Charlie Morton (4 innings to close Game 7 of the World Series). The playoffs started with the idea everyone would try to emulate what the Indians did last year with Andrew Miller. Instead, the Astros just decided to create new Millers with their back-end starters.
17.) Ed Wade's New Legacy
One of the key 'winners' of the 2017 World Series was Jeff Luhnow, a man hailed as a genius when he was hired and has done nothing to tarnish that label. However, let's take a moment to appreciate that at the same time he was decimating the franchise, Ed Wade did end up leaving a little bit of magic in the coffers. The headliner is George Springer, the guy picked in the 1st round in Ed Wade's last draft. But Altuve (likely AL MVP) and Dallas Keuchel (2015 Cy Young) were Wade picks/signings. Ed Wade and Tim Purpura (his #2) were a disaster and created a situation so barren there was no choice but to burn it all down, but there were a few phoenixes left in those ashes.
16.) Game 4
A common refrain coming into Game 6 was that this had the chance to be a truly classic World Series. The refraing post-Game 7 is that it still was a classic, but the ultimate uncompetitiveness of Game 7 hurts it. Game 2 and Game 5 will get the memorialized places in any great World Series game list or montage, but let's pour a quick one out to the other games, starting with Game 4. On one hand, Game 4 tied for the largest margin of any game (4 runs), but it was also 1-1 entering the 9th. This was the game started by each team's #4 starter, and both dealt brilliantly. Charlie Morton was great, a harbinger of his Game 7 glory. Alex Wood was even better, The great Astros had two hits, homers by Springer and Bregman. The Dodgers had their moment in the 9th. It is a game that may be forgotten years from now, but it was a game that would be the highlight or at least best supporting actor (game) of most World Series.
15.) The Process Paying Off
Many people, including Jeff Luhnow and the Astros, will try to traipse outside the 'tanking' term, but there is no more true explanation of what they did than tank. People will always associate 'The Process' with the 76ers, but Luhnow was hired a good 18 months before Hinkie, and his worked. Also, he inherited a mess of a franchise, while Hinkie tore down a team that had made the playoffs multiple times. That all said, it was a process. It worked. Luhnow famously held a quorum with fans after he was hired - essentially to tell them that the team would suck hard for a while. They did. The fan interest is still not all the way back, but I have a felling attendance and TV ratings will start to shoot way back up starting next year.
14.) The Gurriel Situation
Let's get this out of the way, rooting for Yuli Gurriel to help the Astros win the World Series was tough. What he did was obviously wrong and deserved punishment. That said, let me put on my Astros cap for a minute and combat some of the more commonly cited criticisms. First, suspending him for 5 regular season games is not nothing. This will cost him about $50k, not a meaningless amount. This is also a longer suspension than precedent would've suggested - players with homophobic slurs in recent years got 1-2 games. Also, the idea that he hitting a key home run off of Kershaw as being sad is not all that fair. In no universe was he getting a multi-game World Series suspension. He was playing Game 5 even if he got suspended for Game 4. Finally, he made a mistake. He apologized. He and Darvish made up. I don't want to explain away his behavior by citing the differences for someone growing up in Latin America, but they are different. For instance, the idea of him calling Darvish a 'chinito' being a slur is just not true. The gesture, howevrer, was bad. Gratefully, his largest impact ended up being the HR off of Kershaw, which ended up being the 10th most important moment of that classic.
13.) Alex Bregman's Defense
Before this postseason, Alex Bregman was something of a non-story. He was a good player, but far from the best the Astros had. He somewhat underwhelmed given his draft pedigree and minor-league performance. But then he had to take over from Correa at SS when Carlos got hurt, and Bregman took off from there. His bat is fine, but the real revelation has been his defense. Bregman was a vacuum at 3rd base. His hard-changing approach to the hot corner worked magically. Bregman's arm at 3rd was incredible. His range as good. He may never be a top bat (though this year was a huge improvement over last), but by defense alone he is a key cog for the Astros going forward. He had his moments on offense, such as the HR off of Kershaw in Game 1, or Jansen in Game 4, to the walk-off hit to end Game 5, but I'll always remember that vacuum glove and cannon arm.
12.) Game 1
Let's pour one out for the strangest World Series game in a long time, mainly because of its brevity. The lengthy playing times of the postseason games was one of the dominating stories of this postseason and there is a hard movement to get this addressed going forward. But then the counterpoint will be Game 1, a contest that finished in 2:28 - shockingly short. It helped that Kershaw was magical and Keuchel nearly as good. It ended 3-1, with the final out recorded before 11PM Easatern. The tweets from Baseball Twitter mocking the short game belied the sense of shock we all got. It was truly a small appetizer course for a titanic series, a special little slice of old baseball. Fireworks were set to begin, but first we had to dip our toes back into 1970's baseball.
11.) The Rise of FOX's World Series Coverage
FOX hit the World Series (and ALCS before that) out of the park. First, the graphics package is stellar. So clean, so simple (same holds true in the NFL where they use the same format). Second, Joe Buck brought it well in the epic games, with more off-the-cuff reactions ("Wow!!" he exclaimed after Altuve tied Game 5 at 7-7) than prepared lines of old. And while John Smoltz spent half the World Series making fun off and doubting statcast and analytics, he spend the other half giving really on point pitching analysis. However, the true star is that postgame show. A-Rod is brilliant on TV. David Ortiz took a while to warm up, but has started fitting into a nice Barkley-esque role. Keith Hernandez is a bit out of his element, but he's still the guy who is so damn good on Mets broadcasts. Frank Thomas is quietly great, much like his own playing career. Having two guys in A-Rod and Big Papi that played so recently also helps, as the current players they get for interviews look up to them. FOX took it on the chin for years as they mixed and match their personnel, but jetissoning McCarver and the cast of randos they threw out for pregame (Erik Karros, Ozzie Guillen, AJ Pierzynski, etc.) worked like a charm.
10.) Carlos Beltran's Changing Legacy
Given how much Beltran's 2004 postseason used to be mentioned in his previous life, I was surprised by how little it was brought up this time around. With Beltran, the general story was he was the token aging vet looking for that ring. However, for Hosston fans, his signing was bittersweet and it took a world series title to wipe away the bitterness from the equation. While Beltran famously had a postseason for the ages for the Astros in 2004, he also famously spurned Houston that offseason to sign with the Mets. Houston absolutely hated him, and that carried on for a while. He was seen as someone who turned his back to the team and city. Having him come back and ultimately get that ring because his team carried him to it was certainly interesting. I just remain surprised how little this story was investigated during the playoffs and series. Beltran is a great player, someone who probably cemented his place in Cooperstown with this ring, but having the team he spurned get him there was tough at times to watch.
9.) A Great Matchup of Great Teams
On paper, this was supposed to be a great series. We had two teams with 100+ wins play each other, something that hadn't happened in over 40 years. At various times, the Astros and Dodgers seemed historically good. The Astros started out 41-14. The Dodgers were right there after 55 games, but then took off reaching a high-water mark of 91-34. These were special teams having special seasons. And they delivered in a special series. There were other great teams this year. Cleveland also had their run with historical greatness. Washington, Chicago, Boston and New York were all great for one reason or the other, but these two teams were the story of the first two months (Houston) and second two months (LA). They got to fight it out for being the team of the 7th. We so rarely get the two true best teams. We did for once, and it was beautiful.
8.) The Dodger's Place
Every great series, great contest has a loser, and the Dodgers, despite their untouched means and largesse, are a fairly likable, pitiable loser in this case. The team is stocked full of talent, and enjoyable talents, from Yasiel Puig, who rediscovered and had millions rediscover along with him, baseball joy, to Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger, two absolute studes. To the caveman himself in Justin Turner. That lineup was terrifying, with patience and talent throughout. The Dodgers even had their fair share of underdog stories, to the middle-aged Rich Hill, to Chris Taylor coming out of nowhere to become an all-time gnat at the lead-off position. The Dodgers were a great team, and while it is easy to write-off their success to their top-in-baseball payroll, do realize a lot of that payroll is tied up in players that did not really contribute (Matt Kemp, Adrian Gonzalez, Andre Ethier, the Boston guys they traded for in 2012). They're a juggernaut still on the rise. Two great teams entered this series. One of them was going to learn a great lesson in the pain of coming so close, and here's to them heeding it and coming back stronger.
7.) Justin Verlander's Legacy
It's a bit ironic that in the postseason that may have cemented his place in Cooperstown, Verlander didn't actually have that great of a World Series. Certainly, through 5 innings he was having a historically good Game 6 (5IP, 1 hit, 8 Ks), but in the 6th he tired, and by the end he was the losing pitcher. In Game 2, he was great again, but made two mistakes and gave up two HRs and needed some magic by the Astros to keep him from being the losing pitcher in that one as well. But in every retelling of this postseason and this Astros run, Verlander is a key piece. The trade for him was the driving force behind the Astros run. His performance in Game 2 of the ALCS was one of the best pitching performances in the playoffs in years. He embraced his new team, adn they embraced him. He never felt like a hired hand, even if that is exactly what he was. Verlander was a special pitching for many years. He was a special pitcher for Houston, even if in the World Series he finally seemed to run out of gas.
6.) Clayton Kershaw's Legacy
If there was a silver-lining of Game 1 for this Astros fan, it was that Clayton Kershaw put that 'playoff choker' label behind him. If there was the opposite of a silver lining of Game 5, it was that he earned that label right back. Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher of this generation. He has a chance to go down as the best post-war pitcher ever. Understanding that his inevitable late-career decline hasn't happened yet, when taking the totality of his rate stats into account you can argue him being the best pitcher ever. That all is true. It is also increasingly becoming true that his playoff numbers haven't matched the regular season. I'm obviously very sensitive to these discrepancies and the arguments and idiocy that spawn out of them, having lived this with Peyton. Kershaw is the baseball analogue. He is historically great - I think we lose sight of just how great he has been. Just how consistently brilliant. He put up sub-2.00 ERAs three years out of four, and in the year he didn't he struck out 300 batters. His Game 1 was a masterpiece for the ages. I hope he gets his ring, and I hope he wins the World Series MVP when that day comes.
5.) Carlos Correa
Correa ended up stealing headlines because of the proposal, but even stripping that away, he left an indelible mark. He didn't have the signature moments that some of the others did, but what he did do was show both his prodigious skill and equally prodigious make-up and attitude over and over again this postseason. If anyone can quietly have a 5-homer postseason, with near .300 performances in all three rounds, he did it. What Correa also did was flash great leather at short stop and deliver some of the most emotional moments. The clip of him jumping out of the dugout on Alex Bregman's game-winning hit in Game 5, and playing home-base coach as Derek Fisher won the game, was all time special. So was his general air of the moment and of leadership, from the handshakes with the rest of his mates, to the calm nature of his at-bats. It is that leadership that make him the most put-on player outside of Mike Trout, and it is the skill that could conceivably get Correa to that level as well. Best part, he's just 23 and that we're just getting started with him.
4.) Houston, the Baseball Town
We heard it in two ways. The first was the anecdotes of many reporters and broadcasters, that Minute Maid Park was the loudest place they've been in for quite some time. The other way was literally hearing it, the sound of the juicebox pulsating through the TV screen. Houston had this lying dormant for years. The place used to be like this years back, in 2004 and 2005, when the Astros made back-to-back NLCSes, the place imbued this energy and sound. Then, much like the franchise, it lay quiet for years. Houston is still on the upswing. The attendance figures are still not all the way back, but one must imagine after a World Series win they will go up even more. Houston is a baseball town, in the way it is a sports town. They embraced this team, this collective spirit. The Astros forever earned their place in the Houston tableau, and a passion for the game and for making as much noise as possible to fill a band-box of a stadium, was reborn as well.
3.) George Springer
It somehow is fitting that Springer won World Series MVP. He was Agent Zero of this entire Astros operation. He was not the first Top-10 pick the Astros had in their long rebuild (that was Jason Castro), but he was the first one that matters, the final one before Luhnow took over, the main who graced the Sports Illustrated cover that predicted the finish line. Springer is an immensely talented player who might be the streakiest great player in baseball. He had 27 HRs in the first half, and then just 7 in the 2nd. He had a truly awful ALCS, and a hard-to-watch Golden Sombrero in Game 1. Then he drew a walk in Game 2 and it all turned - to the tune of 11-25, 5 HRs, and 29 total bases (World Series record) the next 6. Springer has prodigious talent, and we saw it. He also has weaknesses, like a long swing and a tendency to try to do too much in the field. But when you hit HR after HR, including two of the most majestic home runs you'll ever see in Game 5 and Game 7, it all makes sense again. While Correa is the true stud, and Altuve the MVP, Springer locked down his place in the Astros Hall of Fame.
2.) Game 2
What to say. I wrote a whole piece about Game 2, and I still feel like that didn't do it justice. When people look back at this series years from now, Game 5 will deservedly jump out, but Game 2 shoudl not be overlooked. It was special, and it created the series. Up until Marwin Gonzalez's home run (on an 0-2 count) off of Kenley Jansen, the Dodgers were dominating the series. Back-to-back 3-1 wins over Houston's top two pitchers seemed likely. Then Jansen blew it. Then Altuve and Correa went back to back. Then Ken Giles blew it, with Chris Taylor playing spoiler. Finally, George Springer arrived in the playoffs. When it was done we had 8 Home Runs, a ball bounce off of Chris Taylor's hat, and pickoff throw hit the umpire instead of flying into center field, a home run trot that seemed to show a player forgetting the score (still 100% sure Charlie Culberson thought he had tied the game), and, just to remind you, Kenley Jansen blowing a save. The Dodgers were ludicrous 98-0 in 2017 if they led after 8 innings. The Astros showed their ability, their might, their lasting by denting that sterling record in teh best way possible. Oddly, I feel like 'baseball purists' will remember Game 2 more fondly than Game 5, despite there being more home runs strangely in Game 2. Either way, it was a truly classic game that I watched nervous as hell at a bar in Pleasanton, CA, the only man waving his arms after each Astros home run.
1.) Game 5
What else. I stopped watching Game 5 when it was 4-0. I turned the game back on and fast-forwarded on DVR when the game was live in the 5th inning, seeing the Astros tie it and immediately give the lead right back. Then I watched in amazement as Jose Altuve hit a home run off of previously untouchable Kenta Maeda to re-tie it at 7-7. That's when I knew I was watching something special, something different. Even after the Dodgers took a 8-7 lead, I knew it wasn't over, that both teams would score more runs than they had at the moment. I'll never forget that 5-minute, 6-pitch sequence when Brandon Morrow felt the entirely prodigious excellemnce of the Houston offense. 6 pitches, four hard hit balls. Springer's majestic Pujols-off-of-Lidge-esque Home Run. Bregman and Altuve scorching hits. Correa's ludicrous home run. And in my mind, I knew the Astros would blow that 11-8 lead - the question was how would they do it, not if it would happen. That game had one team lead by four and three, and also trail by three, and have none of those situations provide the winning run. That game also happened in Houston, and ended with a walk-off win, as it should have. It was the craziest World Series game outside of Game 6 of the 2011 Fall Classic, and probably the greatest non-elimination game of all time. It was so good it thoroughly outshined Game 2. It was a spine-tinglingly great five hours. It started with Keuchel and Verlander, the two men who delivered us a taut 2:28 game 1. At the 2:28 mark, it was 4-4 in the 5th inning. There were 17 more runs to score.
It became a touchstone moment for the post-series celebration. Carlos Correa, working along with Ken Rosenthal, to perfectly segway his interview into a marriage proposal to his beautiful girlfriend Daniella Rodriguez. The moment was so perfect. Sure, it may seem a bit presumptious of Correa to hinge the timing of his proposal to the chance the Astros would win the series (likely, had they lost, he does this in December/January anyway) but it was a great moment. The best on-field proposal since the Boise State guy proposed to the cheerleader in 2007. Plus, Correa definitely splurged on that rock. Imagine what size it would have been had he not been making entry-level money due to baseball's inane salary restrictions.
19.) The Sports Illustrated Prediction
Starting around the time the Astros clinched the ALCS, the old Sports Illustrated cover from 2014 started trending, the one that predicted teh Astros would win the 2017 World Series. I remember that story, I have that issue (apparently the value of that issue has increased, a lot...). At the time it I ate it up, finally a sign that things may actually end up OK after years in the baseball wilderness. What's interesting is the life it took now. SI should get credit, sure, but there's a lot in that story that didn't end up coming true - mainly the pick of Mark Appel and the growth of Jon Singleton. Also, I never remembered such plaudits coming SI's way in 2015, when the Royals won after they wrote a story in 2011 saying the Royals would win the 2015 World Series. Basically, what I'm saying is Sports Illustrated should do this basically every year.
18.) The New Way to Bullpen
The most shocking part of the Astros 14-game odyssey in the ALCS and World Series is that they did it without ever having an effective bullpen. Both closer Ken Giles and new-closer Chris Devenski blew big leads in big games. Will Harris gave up hard hit after hard hit. The best reliever might have been Luke Gregerson. Of course, Hinch had the luxury of surplus starters, and used them like a magician. The three biggest 'saves' of the Astros postseason were by Lance McCullers (4 innings to close Game 7 of the ALCS), Brad Peacock (3-2/3 to close out Game 3 of the World Series) and Charlie Morton (4 innings to close Game 7 of the World Series). The playoffs started with the idea everyone would try to emulate what the Indians did last year with Andrew Miller. Instead, the Astros just decided to create new Millers with their back-end starters.
17.) Ed Wade's New Legacy
One of the key 'winners' of the 2017 World Series was Jeff Luhnow, a man hailed as a genius when he was hired and has done nothing to tarnish that label. However, let's take a moment to appreciate that at the same time he was decimating the franchise, Ed Wade did end up leaving a little bit of magic in the coffers. The headliner is George Springer, the guy picked in the 1st round in Ed Wade's last draft. But Altuve (likely AL MVP) and Dallas Keuchel (2015 Cy Young) were Wade picks/signings. Ed Wade and Tim Purpura (his #2) were a disaster and created a situation so barren there was no choice but to burn it all down, but there were a few phoenixes left in those ashes.
16.) Game 4
A common refrain coming into Game 6 was that this had the chance to be a truly classic World Series. The refraing post-Game 7 is that it still was a classic, but the ultimate uncompetitiveness of Game 7 hurts it. Game 2 and Game 5 will get the memorialized places in any great World Series game list or montage, but let's pour a quick one out to the other games, starting with Game 4. On one hand, Game 4 tied for the largest margin of any game (4 runs), but it was also 1-1 entering the 9th. This was the game started by each team's #4 starter, and both dealt brilliantly. Charlie Morton was great, a harbinger of his Game 7 glory. Alex Wood was even better, The great Astros had two hits, homers by Springer and Bregman. The Dodgers had their moment in the 9th. It is a game that may be forgotten years from now, but it was a game that would be the highlight or at least best supporting actor (game) of most World Series.
15.) The Process Paying Off
Many people, including Jeff Luhnow and the Astros, will try to traipse outside the 'tanking' term, but there is no more true explanation of what they did than tank. People will always associate 'The Process' with the 76ers, but Luhnow was hired a good 18 months before Hinkie, and his worked. Also, he inherited a mess of a franchise, while Hinkie tore down a team that had made the playoffs multiple times. That all said, it was a process. It worked. Luhnow famously held a quorum with fans after he was hired - essentially to tell them that the team would suck hard for a while. They did. The fan interest is still not all the way back, but I have a felling attendance and TV ratings will start to shoot way back up starting next year.
14.) The Gurriel Situation
Let's get this out of the way, rooting for Yuli Gurriel to help the Astros win the World Series was tough. What he did was obviously wrong and deserved punishment. That said, let me put on my Astros cap for a minute and combat some of the more commonly cited criticisms. First, suspending him for 5 regular season games is not nothing. This will cost him about $50k, not a meaningless amount. This is also a longer suspension than precedent would've suggested - players with homophobic slurs in recent years got 1-2 games. Also, the idea that he hitting a key home run off of Kershaw as being sad is not all that fair. In no universe was he getting a multi-game World Series suspension. He was playing Game 5 even if he got suspended for Game 4. Finally, he made a mistake. He apologized. He and Darvish made up. I don't want to explain away his behavior by citing the differences for someone growing up in Latin America, but they are different. For instance, the idea of him calling Darvish a 'chinito' being a slur is just not true. The gesture, howevrer, was bad. Gratefully, his largest impact ended up being the HR off of Kershaw, which ended up being the 10th most important moment of that classic.
13.) Alex Bregman's Defense
Before this postseason, Alex Bregman was something of a non-story. He was a good player, but far from the best the Astros had. He somewhat underwhelmed given his draft pedigree and minor-league performance. But then he had to take over from Correa at SS when Carlos got hurt, and Bregman took off from there. His bat is fine, but the real revelation has been his defense. Bregman was a vacuum at 3rd base. His hard-changing approach to the hot corner worked magically. Bregman's arm at 3rd was incredible. His range as good. He may never be a top bat (though this year was a huge improvement over last), but by defense alone he is a key cog for the Astros going forward. He had his moments on offense, such as the HR off of Kershaw in Game 1, or Jansen in Game 4, to the walk-off hit to end Game 5, but I'll always remember that vacuum glove and cannon arm.
12.) Game 1
Let's pour one out for the strangest World Series game in a long time, mainly because of its brevity. The lengthy playing times of the postseason games was one of the dominating stories of this postseason and there is a hard movement to get this addressed going forward. But then the counterpoint will be Game 1, a contest that finished in 2:28 - shockingly short. It helped that Kershaw was magical and Keuchel nearly as good. It ended 3-1, with the final out recorded before 11PM Easatern. The tweets from Baseball Twitter mocking the short game belied the sense of shock we all got. It was truly a small appetizer course for a titanic series, a special little slice of old baseball. Fireworks were set to begin, but first we had to dip our toes back into 1970's baseball.
11.) The Rise of FOX's World Series Coverage
FOX hit the World Series (and ALCS before that) out of the park. First, the graphics package is stellar. So clean, so simple (same holds true in the NFL where they use the same format). Second, Joe Buck brought it well in the epic games, with more off-the-cuff reactions ("Wow!!" he exclaimed after Altuve tied Game 5 at 7-7) than prepared lines of old. And while John Smoltz spent half the World Series making fun off and doubting statcast and analytics, he spend the other half giving really on point pitching analysis. However, the true star is that postgame show. A-Rod is brilliant on TV. David Ortiz took a while to warm up, but has started fitting into a nice Barkley-esque role. Keith Hernandez is a bit out of his element, but he's still the guy who is so damn good on Mets broadcasts. Frank Thomas is quietly great, much like his own playing career. Having two guys in A-Rod and Big Papi that played so recently also helps, as the current players they get for interviews look up to them. FOX took it on the chin for years as they mixed and match their personnel, but jetissoning McCarver and the cast of randos they threw out for pregame (Erik Karros, Ozzie Guillen, AJ Pierzynski, etc.) worked like a charm.
10.) Carlos Beltran's Changing Legacy
Given how much Beltran's 2004 postseason used to be mentioned in his previous life, I was surprised by how little it was brought up this time around. With Beltran, the general story was he was the token aging vet looking for that ring. However, for Hosston fans, his signing was bittersweet and it took a world series title to wipe away the bitterness from the equation. While Beltran famously had a postseason for the ages for the Astros in 2004, he also famously spurned Houston that offseason to sign with the Mets. Houston absolutely hated him, and that carried on for a while. He was seen as someone who turned his back to the team and city. Having him come back and ultimately get that ring because his team carried him to it was certainly interesting. I just remain surprised how little this story was investigated during the playoffs and series. Beltran is a great player, someone who probably cemented his place in Cooperstown with this ring, but having the team he spurned get him there was tough at times to watch.
9.) A Great Matchup of Great Teams
On paper, this was supposed to be a great series. We had two teams with 100+ wins play each other, something that hadn't happened in over 40 years. At various times, the Astros and Dodgers seemed historically good. The Astros started out 41-14. The Dodgers were right there after 55 games, but then took off reaching a high-water mark of 91-34. These were special teams having special seasons. And they delivered in a special series. There were other great teams this year. Cleveland also had their run with historical greatness. Washington, Chicago, Boston and New York were all great for one reason or the other, but these two teams were the story of the first two months (Houston) and second two months (LA). They got to fight it out for being the team of the 7th. We so rarely get the two true best teams. We did for once, and it was beautiful.
8.) The Dodger's Place
Every great series, great contest has a loser, and the Dodgers, despite their untouched means and largesse, are a fairly likable, pitiable loser in this case. The team is stocked full of talent, and enjoyable talents, from Yasiel Puig, who rediscovered and had millions rediscover along with him, baseball joy, to Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger, two absolute studes. To the caveman himself in Justin Turner. That lineup was terrifying, with patience and talent throughout. The Dodgers even had their fair share of underdog stories, to the middle-aged Rich Hill, to Chris Taylor coming out of nowhere to become an all-time gnat at the lead-off position. The Dodgers were a great team, and while it is easy to write-off their success to their top-in-baseball payroll, do realize a lot of that payroll is tied up in players that did not really contribute (Matt Kemp, Adrian Gonzalez, Andre Ethier, the Boston guys they traded for in 2012). They're a juggernaut still on the rise. Two great teams entered this series. One of them was going to learn a great lesson in the pain of coming so close, and here's to them heeding it and coming back stronger.
7.) Justin Verlander's Legacy
It's a bit ironic that in the postseason that may have cemented his place in Cooperstown, Verlander didn't actually have that great of a World Series. Certainly, through 5 innings he was having a historically good Game 6 (5IP, 1 hit, 8 Ks), but in the 6th he tired, and by the end he was the losing pitcher. In Game 2, he was great again, but made two mistakes and gave up two HRs and needed some magic by the Astros to keep him from being the losing pitcher in that one as well. But in every retelling of this postseason and this Astros run, Verlander is a key piece. The trade for him was the driving force behind the Astros run. His performance in Game 2 of the ALCS was one of the best pitching performances in the playoffs in years. He embraced his new team, adn they embraced him. He never felt like a hired hand, even if that is exactly what he was. Verlander was a special pitching for many years. He was a special pitcher for Houston, even if in the World Series he finally seemed to run out of gas.
6.) Clayton Kershaw's Legacy
If there was a silver-lining of Game 1 for this Astros fan, it was that Clayton Kershaw put that 'playoff choker' label behind him. If there was the opposite of a silver lining of Game 5, it was that he earned that label right back. Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher of this generation. He has a chance to go down as the best post-war pitcher ever. Understanding that his inevitable late-career decline hasn't happened yet, when taking the totality of his rate stats into account you can argue him being the best pitcher ever. That all is true. It is also increasingly becoming true that his playoff numbers haven't matched the regular season. I'm obviously very sensitive to these discrepancies and the arguments and idiocy that spawn out of them, having lived this with Peyton. Kershaw is the baseball analogue. He is historically great - I think we lose sight of just how great he has been. Just how consistently brilliant. He put up sub-2.00 ERAs three years out of four, and in the year he didn't he struck out 300 batters. His Game 1 was a masterpiece for the ages. I hope he gets his ring, and I hope he wins the World Series MVP when that day comes.
5.) Carlos Correa
Correa ended up stealing headlines because of the proposal, but even stripping that away, he left an indelible mark. He didn't have the signature moments that some of the others did, but what he did do was show both his prodigious skill and equally prodigious make-up and attitude over and over again this postseason. If anyone can quietly have a 5-homer postseason, with near .300 performances in all three rounds, he did it. What Correa also did was flash great leather at short stop and deliver some of the most emotional moments. The clip of him jumping out of the dugout on Alex Bregman's game-winning hit in Game 5, and playing home-base coach as Derek Fisher won the game, was all time special. So was his general air of the moment and of leadership, from the handshakes with the rest of his mates, to the calm nature of his at-bats. It is that leadership that make him the most put-on player outside of Mike Trout, and it is the skill that could conceivably get Correa to that level as well. Best part, he's just 23 and that we're just getting started with him.
4.) Houston, the Baseball Town
We heard it in two ways. The first was the anecdotes of many reporters and broadcasters, that Minute Maid Park was the loudest place they've been in for quite some time. The other way was literally hearing it, the sound of the juicebox pulsating through the TV screen. Houston had this lying dormant for years. The place used to be like this years back, in 2004 and 2005, when the Astros made back-to-back NLCSes, the place imbued this energy and sound. Then, much like the franchise, it lay quiet for years. Houston is still on the upswing. The attendance figures are still not all the way back, but one must imagine after a World Series win they will go up even more. Houston is a baseball town, in the way it is a sports town. They embraced this team, this collective spirit. The Astros forever earned their place in the Houston tableau, and a passion for the game and for making as much noise as possible to fill a band-box of a stadium, was reborn as well.
3.) George Springer
It somehow is fitting that Springer won World Series MVP. He was Agent Zero of this entire Astros operation. He was not the first Top-10 pick the Astros had in their long rebuild (that was Jason Castro), but he was the first one that matters, the final one before Luhnow took over, the main who graced the Sports Illustrated cover that predicted the finish line. Springer is an immensely talented player who might be the streakiest great player in baseball. He had 27 HRs in the first half, and then just 7 in the 2nd. He had a truly awful ALCS, and a hard-to-watch Golden Sombrero in Game 1. Then he drew a walk in Game 2 and it all turned - to the tune of 11-25, 5 HRs, and 29 total bases (World Series record) the next 6. Springer has prodigious talent, and we saw it. He also has weaknesses, like a long swing and a tendency to try to do too much in the field. But when you hit HR after HR, including two of the most majestic home runs you'll ever see in Game 5 and Game 7, it all makes sense again. While Correa is the true stud, and Altuve the MVP, Springer locked down his place in the Astros Hall of Fame.
2.) Game 2
What to say. I wrote a whole piece about Game 2, and I still feel like that didn't do it justice. When people look back at this series years from now, Game 5 will deservedly jump out, but Game 2 shoudl not be overlooked. It was special, and it created the series. Up until Marwin Gonzalez's home run (on an 0-2 count) off of Kenley Jansen, the Dodgers were dominating the series. Back-to-back 3-1 wins over Houston's top two pitchers seemed likely. Then Jansen blew it. Then Altuve and Correa went back to back. Then Ken Giles blew it, with Chris Taylor playing spoiler. Finally, George Springer arrived in the playoffs. When it was done we had 8 Home Runs, a ball bounce off of Chris Taylor's hat, and pickoff throw hit the umpire instead of flying into center field, a home run trot that seemed to show a player forgetting the score (still 100% sure Charlie Culberson thought he had tied the game), and, just to remind you, Kenley Jansen blowing a save. The Dodgers were ludicrous 98-0 in 2017 if they led after 8 innings. The Astros showed their ability, their might, their lasting by denting that sterling record in teh best way possible. Oddly, I feel like 'baseball purists' will remember Game 2 more fondly than Game 5, despite there being more home runs strangely in Game 2. Either way, it was a truly classic game that I watched nervous as hell at a bar in Pleasanton, CA, the only man waving his arms after each Astros home run.
1.) Game 5
What else. I stopped watching Game 5 when it was 4-0. I turned the game back on and fast-forwarded on DVR when the game was live in the 5th inning, seeing the Astros tie it and immediately give the lead right back. Then I watched in amazement as Jose Altuve hit a home run off of previously untouchable Kenta Maeda to re-tie it at 7-7. That's when I knew I was watching something special, something different. Even after the Dodgers took a 8-7 lead, I knew it wasn't over, that both teams would score more runs than they had at the moment. I'll never forget that 5-minute, 6-pitch sequence when Brandon Morrow felt the entirely prodigious excellemnce of the Houston offense. 6 pitches, four hard hit balls. Springer's majestic Pujols-off-of-Lidge-esque Home Run. Bregman and Altuve scorching hits. Correa's ludicrous home run. And in my mind, I knew the Astros would blow that 11-8 lead - the question was how would they do it, not if it would happen. That game had one team lead by four and three, and also trail by three, and have none of those situations provide the winning run. That game also happened in Houston, and ended with a walk-off win, as it should have. It was the craziest World Series game outside of Game 6 of the 2011 Fall Classic, and probably the greatest non-elimination game of all time. It was so good it thoroughly outshined Game 2. It was a spine-tinglingly great five hours. It started with Keuchel and Verlander, the two men who delivered us a taut 2:28 game 1. At the 2:28 mark, it was 4-4 in the 5th inning. There were 17 more runs to score.
