The World Series this year is a blast from the past. In 1980, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros went head to head to determine the World Series champion and it’s happening again this year. This Fall Classic is also unique because it’s the first time that long-time division rivals are playing against each other. This is only a possibility because the Houston Astros recently switched leagues. They were originally in the National League in Brooklyn, then in 2013 they moved to the American League, thus making this rivalry matchup in the world series a reality. The seven game series broke many records as the teams battled to be the World Series champions.
Game one was one for the record books in that it was the hottest World Series game ever reported. It was a scorching 103 degrees in Los Angeles. Also it was the shortest World Series game in that it only lasted two hours and 28 minutes. The game started off with a bang when Los Angeles Dodgers player, Chris Taylor, hit a homerun on the first pitch of the game. The game resulted in a 3-1 Dodgers victory.
Game two went into extra innings because after the 9th inning both teams were tied with three runs. Another record eight homeruns were hit within this game and six were hit in the final three innings. The game ended with the Astros winning 7-6 over the Dodgers. This was their first win of the World Series because in their last World Series appearance they were swept away by the Chicago White Sox.
Game three started off with a bang in Houston when the Astros scored four runs within the second inning. The Astros maintained their lead and won the third game 5-3. Astros’ player, Yuli Gurriel, was caught by the cameras making racial gestures toward the Dodgers’ pitcher, Yu Darvish, after hitting his homerun. The MLB handled it accordingly and is allowing Gurriel to finish playing in the World Series, but he has to sit out the first five games of the upcoming 2018 season.
Game four started off very slow for both teams. The first run wasn’t scored until the 6th inning by the Astros. Then the pace changed in the 9th and final inning of the game. The Dodgers scored a huge five runs with a three-run homer, while the Astros only scored one. Game four ended with the Dodgers taking the win with a score of 6-2.
Game five was a huge scoring game. Starting off in the first inning, the Dodgers scored three runs right away. Astros’ pitcher, Dallas Keuchel, only pitched for 3 2/3 innings which was his shortest home start of the season. In the 4th inning the Astros’ Gurriel hit a three-run home run tying the game up 4-4 at the bottom of the 4th. Another three-run homer was hit by Bellinger of the Dodgers putting them in the lead once again. In the bottom of the 5th, Altuve hit yet another three-run homer tying the game again. After the 9th inning the game was tied 12-12 so they had to play an extra 10th inning. The Astros clinched the win scoring one more run making the score 13-12. At this point the Astros were just one win away from a World Series victory.
Game six returned to Los Angeles and featured the same starting pitchers as the second game of the series, Verlander and Hill. The first run of the game was by the Astros’ George Springer in the 3rd inning. This was his 4th homer of the world series making him third for the most homeruns in a postseason series. The game ended with the dodgers getting the win with a score of 3-1. This meant that there would be a game seven to determine the World Series champion.
Game seven was the first World Series final game to be played at Dodger Stadium. The Astros started off strong by putting up five runs within the first two innings. The Dodgers did not score a run through the first 5 innings, and they only scored one run throughout the entire game. The Astros won the 2017 World Series with a final score of 5-1.
This is the first time the Astros have ever won a World Series. The Astros manager, A.J. Hinch, said to reporters, “As time will go by we’ll watch the DVDs that are made of this series and the memories that are built from this series.” So not only will the Astros watch how they won the World Series, they will watch how winning bonded their team as a whole and brought them closer together. It also is a huge victory for the community of Houston as well after all the damage done to the city by Hurricane Harvey. T-Mobile got together with Team Rubicon and proposed a fundraiser called #HR4HR to help raise money for hurricane recovery and they raised 2.5 million dollars. The Houston Astros were “Houston Strong” for their community, and their victory along with money raised will help the city of Houston get back on its feet.
