Inspector Pumphead Previews the World Series!

The leaves are falling, the wind is blowing and the night darkness seems to come earlier and earlier everyday. You know what that means: it’s fall and also time for MLB’s World Series, also known as the Fall Classic.

Pump Head reviews the world series
Inspector Pumphead is ready to take in the World Series

The best-of-seven series is always a special part of the American sports calendar and has produced some of the most seminal and memorable moments in sports. After a 162 game regular season and two playoff rounds, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros have emerged triumphant as the representatives of their respective leagues.

For the Dodgers, “The Best Team Money Can Buy,” this World Series appearance was a long time coming. The well-heeled team has cultivated a (perhaps unfair) reputation as a bunch of overpaid chokers as they flamed out to arguably less talented teams. This year, however, the boys in blue have powered past any doubts, dismissing the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS and then making the defending champion Chicago Cubs old news in the NLCS.

It’s been a long wait for loyal Dodgers fans, who have been waiting since 1988 to see their team in the World Series. That’s right – one of the proudest, richest franchises in baseball hasn’t been to the game’s biggest stage in over a quarter century.  That was the year of the “I don’t believe what I JUST saw!” Kirk Gibson home run to boot.

The Astros have been to the World Series more recently (2005) but that was a completely different organization with a different identity – they were still in the National League. Houston has had an interesting trajectory the last few years. The organization intentionally put bad teams on the field in an effort to stockpile high draft picks. Then armed with young stars, Houston went from bad to good very quickly. Amazingly, the rebuild is right on schedule; Sports Illustrated even ran a cover story in 2014 predicting that the Astros would win the World Series this year. And after thumping the Boston Red Sox and narrowly surviving in seven games against the Yankees, they look ready to fulfill the prophecy.

MLB’s postseason format has often resulted in wild card teams and regular season underachievers reaching the World Series. But we have two juggernauts clashing this year. Indeed it is the first World Series to feature two 100-win teams since 1970. It should be quite a show.

Hitting

In the postseason, the Dodgers have largely been driven by the hot bats of Justin Turner and Yasiel Puig. Turner is a former Mets castoff while Puig has gone from future star to malcontent washout to solid contributor in the span of a few years. Turner and Puig have perhaps taken some of the pressure of young Dodgers’ stars like Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger and Chris Taylor.

The Astros are powered by likely MVP and fan favorite, Jose Altuve. The 5’6″ Altuve’s diminutive stature, in comparison to other major leaguers, has always been the source of entertainment, but recently it’s his dominant play that’s drawing more attention. He’s backed up by budding Puerto Rican superstar Carlos Correa. George Springer, Alex Bregman, Evan Gattis and Josh Reddick round out things for Houston.

Edge: Push

Pitching

Two of the best pitchers of recent generations are the headliners. Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers) keeps cementing his claim as maybe the greatest, most dominant pitcher of all time. Justin Verlander (Astros) has shown remarkable resilience, returning to form after it looked like he was past his best at the tail end of his stint with the Detroit Tigers. His clutch game seven performance against the Yankees, in the ALCS, was key to the Astros hopes.

These two superstars won’t matchup until a possible game 5 or later if at all; same goes for second line stars Yu Darvish (Dodgers) and Dallas Keuchel (Astros). But which pitcher starts isn’t as important these days; it’s all about bullpen management now. Here, the Dodgers have a clear edge: Kenley Jansen might be the best closer in basebal,l and the other bullpen stalwarts (Tony Watson, Brandon Morrow, Tony Cingrani, Josh Fields) are pretty good as well. Houston has no such answer and their starters have generally thrown more pitches, and pitched more innings, than other postseason teams’ starters.

Big Edge: Dodgers

The Pumphead Pick: Dodgers in Seven

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