October. The month of pumpkin patch Instagram posts, Halloween, and above all, the Major League Baseball World Series. Baseball is America’s national pastime, and this tournament is the apex of the professional level, with an audience of approximately 115 million in the 2016 series alone.
This annual tournament has been held in its modern form since 1903. Originally, teams with the best win-loss record from the American League and National League played a best-of-seven game series to determine the champion. This changed in 1969, when both leagues instituted a League Championship Series (ALCS and NLCS) to determine which teams would play against each other for the World Series.
This year, this legendary fixture in American culture pits the Washington Nationals against the Houston Astros. These two teams have both battled ups and downs to make it to these crucial seven games, yet also have vastly different stories.
Despite winning 93 games, the Nationals barely squeaked into the playoffs, earning a Wild Card berth. They won the Wild Card game against the Milwaukee Brewers to earn a best-of-five series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who were the only team in the National League to crack 100 wins in the 2019 season and also heavy favorites to make another World Series appearance.
Seen as the underdog, most wrote the Nationals off as a pit stop for L.A., but thanks to some clutch hitting from Anthony Rendon, Juan Soto and Howie Kendrick, the Nationals were able to beat the Dodgers three games to two. Riding this wave of confidence, they swept the St. Louis Cardinals in four games, clinching the league championship and punching their ticket to the first World Series for a Washington team since 1933.
The Astros finished the season with the best record in the American League (107 wins to 55 losses). With stars like Jose Altuve, Most Valuable Player Award candidate Alex Bregman and Justin Verlander, this is one of the scariest teams baseball has seen in recent years and stands as the heavy favorite.
But make no mistake, the Nationals are here to compete as they feature similar lineups. Both teams have offenses that are red hot and get on base frequently, with each team having several clutch moments this postseason.
The biggest danger on the Astros however isn’t the hitting, but rather the pitching. Houston boasts a pitching rotation that is as lethal as it is deep. Gerrit Cole, Zach Greinke and Verlander are all some of the best pitchers in the game today and consistently deliver shutout performances.
But the Nationals feature a strong rotation of their own with Patrick Corbin, Stephen Strasburg and two-time Cy Young winning Max Scherzer. Both teams are ripe with talent, feature a similar build and are ready for the Fall Classic.
The World Series has been a staple of American Culture for 116 years. While many are giving the Nationals no chance to win, this should be an entertaining series that builds the legacy of America’s Pastime.