Position-by-position analysis
FIRST BASE
ASTROS Yuli Gurriel. The 33-year-old rookie from Cuba has made a pretty smooth transition to the majors after signing a $47.5 million, 5-year contract. Gurriel, a right-handed hitter with pop, has solved a problem spot for Houston at first base and provided a clutch bat in October, batting .366 in the AL playoffs. DODGERS Cody Bellinger. The runaway favorite for NL Rookie of the Year, Bellinger set an NL rookie record with 39 home runs — second in the league this season to Miami slugger Giancarlo Stanton
(59). Bellinger made his debut April 25 and wound up leading the team in RBI (97) and runs (87). His natural power belies a lean build, and he’s shown an excellent glove at first base. His father, Clay, was a light-hitting backup on championship teams with the Yankees. EDGE Dodgers.
SECOND BASE
ASTROS Jose Altuve. Size matters not. The 5-foot-6 dynamo is one of the game’s best players.
Altuve batted .346 this season, winning his second consecutive batting crown and third overall. He hit 24 home runs, stole 32 bases and had 204 hits to lead the AL for the fourth season in a row, making him a top contender for MVP along with giant Yankees rookie Aaron Judge. Altuve put on a show in the playoffs, too, hitting .400 with 5 HRs to go with acrobatic defense and daring base running. That performance included 3 home runs in the Division Series opener against Boston, 2 off Chris Sale. At the plate, Altuve hammers even the hardest heat
DODGERS Logan Forsythe or Chase Utley. Forsythe, a right-handed hitter, was obtained in an offseason trade after two productive seasons with Tampa Bay, but dipped to .224 with 6 HRs and 36 RBI. He has a good eye and is batting .316 in his first postseason. Utley, 38, a six-time All-Star from 2006-2014, remains a hard-nosed player who sees time against righties. Utley hit a home run in his first World Series at-bat with Philadelphia in 2008 and has a wealth of postseason experience. He’s 0 for 9 with 4 strikeouts this year, though.
EDGE Astros.
SHORTSTOP
ASTROS Carlos Correa. The first pick in the 2012 amateur draft out of Puerto
Rico, Correa, 23, is one of baseball’s brightest young stars. The 2015 AL
Rookie of the Year is an outstanding athlete who has power to all fields and can really play shortstop.
DODGERS Corey
Seager. Another one of the game’s top young talents, Seager, 23, was last season’s NL Rookie of the Year and finished third in MVP voting. A two-time All-Star already, Seager is expected back in the lineup after missing the NL Championship Series against the Cubs with a back injury.
EDGE Astros.
THIRD BASE
ASTROS Alex Bregman. Drafted second overall in 2015 out of LSU, Bregman batted .284 with 19 home runs, 71 RBIand 39 doubles this year in his first full major-league season. He hit .190 in the playoffs but did have 2 home runs, 2 doubles and 5 RBI. He’s a converted shortstop with good skills at the hot corner. DODGERS Justin Turner. The red-bearded bopper, a parttime player with minimal power early in his career, was cast off by the Orioles and Mets. He caught on with the Dodgers in his native southern California, remade his swing and morphed into a very dangerous hitter who earned his first All-Star nod this year. Turner was co-MVP of the NLCS after socking a game-winning home runs, and he’s a .368 career postseason hitter with 5 HRs and 24 RBI in 26 games. What a find.
EDGE Dodgers.
CATCHER
ASTROS Brian McCann or Evan Gattis. McCann, a seven-time All-Star from 2006-2013, was traded by the Yankees last offseason to make room for Gary Sanchez behind the plate. McCann went 0 for 20 then delivered a couple of big hits in the final two games of the ALCS to help beat New
York — which must have felt good. He isn’t quite the hitter he used to be, but McCann remains a steady and respected leader. The brawny Gattis offers raw power from the right side and sometimes catches against lefties. DODGERS Austin Barnes or Yasmani Grandal. Barnes, with an .895 OPS in 262 plate appearances and athletic defensive skills behind the plate, appears to have wrested much of the playing time away from Grandal at this point. Barnes almost certainly will catch the Series opener, though Grandal could get back in there against some right-handed pitching. He has 49 home runs over the past two seasons but is hitting .093 with 1 HR and 19 strikeouts in 43 career postseason at-bats — only 5 this October.
EDGE Astros.
LEFT FIELD
ASTROS Marwin Gonzalez, a versatile switch-hitter, can play all over the diamond and earned a regular role this year with a breakout season. Gonzalez batted .303 with 23 home runs and a team-high 90
RBI, but struggled at the plate during the playoffs. DODGERS Enrique Hernandez, Andre Ethier or Curtis Granderson. Hernandez, another utility player by trade, brings instant energy and a live right-handed bat that lands him in the middle of the lineup against lefties. He had a career night and in the NLCS clincher at Wrigley Field, with three home runs and a record seven RBI. Slumping Granderson seems to have lost his starting job against righties, but that’s where the depth on Los Angeles’ versatile roster really comes in handy. Enter Ethier, 35, an old pro who homered in the NLCS after missing most of the past two seasons with injuries. EDGE Astros.
CENTER FIELD
ASTROS George Springer, with rare power at the top of the lineup, had 34 home runs and 85 RBI this season and made his first All-Star team. He hit 9 leadoff home runs, most in the majors, and can definitely go get it in center field. Springer batted .412 with a homer and two doubles in the ALDS but only .115 (3 for 26) in the ALCS.
DODGERS Chris Taylor is another versatile player who has excelled after being pulled off the scrap heap by the opportunistic Dodgers. Taylor, like Turner, also changed his swing to generate more power and it paid off. The former Seattle shortstop came out of nowhere this season to establish himself as an everyday leadoff hitter, batting .288 with 21 home runs, 72 RBI and 17 steals. He helped fill in at shortstop for Seager during the NLCS and took home co-MVP honors with Turner after compiling a 1.248 OPS with 2 home runs and 4 extra-base hits in 5 games.
EDGE Astros.
RIGHT FIELD
ASTROS Josh Reddick, a 2012 Gold Glove winner, spent the final two months of last season with the Dodgers after being traded from Oakland. He signed a $52 million, 4-year contract with Houston in the offseason and batted .314 with 13 home runs and 82 RBI. He hit .375 in the ALDS but went 1 for 25 against the Yankees, finally snapping a long hitless skid late in the series.
DODGERS Yasiel Puig was aptly nicknamed
“The Wild Horse” by revered broadcaster
Vin Scully. The enigmatic outfielder from
Cuba was runner-up for 2013 NL Rookie of the Year and a starter in the All-Star
Game the following Puig season. But he fell out of such favor with the Dodgers that they demoted him to the minors last year. He’s bounced back with the best full season of his career (28 HRs, 74 RBI), and put up huge numbers in the NL playoffs with a 1.169 OPS. Puig’s speed, rocket arm and powerful bat still come with some discipline issues, cocky antics and bat flips that rankle opponents. But his approach at the plate has matured and he’s playing consistently excellent baseball lately. Seems to be having plenty of fun, too.
EDGE Dodgers.
DESIGNATED HITTER
ASTROS Gattis or Carlos Beltran. Gattis is a throwback who doesn’t wear batting gloves and looks like some kind of mountain man. He swings his lumber like a club and has an incredible back story that brought him to the big leagues after he just about gave up baseball and was working odd jobs to barely make ends meet. Beltran, 40, one of the game’s most notable postseason performers, returned to Houston this season hoping for his first World
Series ring. Beltran went 1 for 12 with
4 strikeouts in the
ALCS but has embraced his leadership role of wise and savvy veteran.
DODGERS Ethier, Grandal or Hernandez. With AL rules in play when the World Series shifts to Houston for Game 3, the Dodgers will have plenty of options at DH. Ethier or Grandal could offer left-handed pop against a right-handed pitcher. Hernandez seems a lock to be in the lineup against lefties, at least. Seager might also show up in the spot, depending on how he’s moving defensively. EDGE Astros.
STARTING PITCHERS
ASTROS For a team that went all seven games in the ALCS, the Astros are in good shape with their solid rotation. They can start left-hander Dallas Keuchel (14-5, 2.90 ERA) in the opener and fellow Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander in Game 2 on regular rest. Verlander is 4-0 with a 1.46 ERA this postseason, including his first career relief appearance. The ALCS MVP is 9-0 with a 1.23 ERA and 67 strikeouts in nine outings for Houston since agreeing to a trade from Detroit that was completed only seconds before the Aug. 31 midnight deadline for postseason eligibility. Charlie
Morton (14-7, 3.62) and Lance McCullers
Jr. (7-4, 4.25) combined to shut out the
Yankees in Game 7.
They both have good stuff and would make fine options for Games 3 and 4 in any order — if the Astros don’t need to use them too much out of the bullpen early in the series. McCullers, an All-Star in July, features a wipeout curveball and appears to be rounding back into form following an injury-plagued second half. DODGERS It all starts with Clayton Kershaw (18-4, 2.31 ERA, 202 Ks), who has waited his entire career for this moment, a chance to pitch in the World Series. The three-time Cy Young
Award winner goes in Game 1 on regular rest at home. He won the NLCS clincher at
Wrigley Field with a stingy outing, but has had his share of postseason struggles. Kershaw has 5 ERA titles and 7 All-Star selections is 6-7 with a 4.40 ERA in 21 playoff games, including 2-0 this year. After that comes lefty Rich Hill (12-8, 3.32), who pitches well at home. Yu Darvish (10-12, 3.86, 209 Ks) was obtained from Texas at the July 31 trade deadline to give the rotation a right-handed ace and he delivered in the NL playoffs, winning both his starts. Left-hander Alex Wood (16-3, 2.72) hasn’t had a chance to pitch much in the postseason following the best year of his career.
EDGE Even.
BULLPEN
On paper, this is where Houston comes up woefully short. While the Astros have several capable relievers with successful track records, including Chris Devenski, Will Harris, Luke Gregerson and closer Ken Giles, manager A.J. Hinch has been hesitant to use some of them in big games lately. Some are short on October experience, and the group as a whole hasn’t performed very well when called upon. Instead, the creative Astros have used starters such as Verlander, McCullers, Brad Peacock and Collin McHugh to fill gaps in the mid-tolate innings. Whether they can keep that up remains to be seen.
DODGERS Anchored by Kenley Jansen, perhaps the most dominant closer in baseball, the Dodgers have a deep bullpen that’s been a big reason for their success. Los Angeles relievers have thrown 23 straight scoreless innings in the postseason, dating to Game 2 of the Division Series against Arizona. Jansen and setup man Brandon Morrow look untouchable right now, combining for 15 strikeouts and one hit allowed in nine scoreless playoff innings. The unit, which helped the
Dodgers compile an NL-low 3.38 ERA this season, has only been augmented by starter Kenta Maeda and the midseason additions of left-handers Tony Cingrani and Tony Watson. Because of that lights-out bullpen, manager Dave Roberts doesn’t even ask his starters to go very far.
EDGE Dodgers.
THE PICK Astros in 6.