McCullers officially ruled out

HOUSTON —Lance McCullers Jr. won’t pitch for the Astros this series. Arguably Houston’s best pitcher was finally ruled out on Monday after he suffered a strained elbow during the ALDS. McCullers said it’s the type of injury that takes six to eight weeks to heal to the point he could pick up a ball. “We tried to push it as far as we could, but just couldn’t make it back to throwing,’’ McCullers said Monday at Minute Maid Park. “It’s disappointing. I’m just going to keep doing what I can do and have all the faith in our team and the guys that we have out there and try to win a World Series.

WORLD SERIES NOTES

Framber Valdez, who pitched eight innings in Game 5 of the ALDS against the Red Sox, will start for the Astros in Game 1 on Tuesday and Houston manager Dusty Baker said though the team had decided on a Game 2 starter, he wouldn’t announce it.

McCullers had a 3.16 ERA in the regular season and pitched twice against the White Sox in the ALDS.

The Astros enter the World Series with a better record than Atlanta, but no team was hotter than the Braves after the trade deadline. They’re 44-22 since they bolstered their team on July 30, remaking their outfield.

Freddie Freeman called it “pretty amazing” the Braves were still playing given how their season went and the moves it made at the deadline. Marcell Ozuna is on administrative leave after being arrested on assault charges after allegedly assaulting his wife. Ronald Acuna Jr. had surgery to repair his ACL and the Braves were saved by the arrival of Joc Pederson, Eddie Rosario, Jorge Soler and Adam Duvall.

“We’ve got a whole different team pretty much in the outfield,’’ Freeman said. “We were just trying to figure out how all this worked. … We were just trying to figure out how all these pieces fit on our team. Next thing you know, about a month in, the pieces started fitting, and we started rolling as a group. To have a whole new outfield that you did in April than you did

at the end of July, it’s hard to do.”