The Astros-Dodgers World Series matchup between two 100-win teams is the first since 1970.
Fall Classic pits 100-win teams for the first time since 1970
The unpredictable nature of October baseball makes it commonplace that the best team doesn’t win.
Wild-card teams make runs. Special regular seasons quickly become distant memories.
This World Series matchup between the 101-win Astros and the 104-win Los Angeles Dodgers is more a novelty than the norm. Not since 1970, when Earl Weaver led a 108-win Baltimore Orioles team past Sparky Anderson’s 102-win Cincinnati Reds club have two 100-win teams met in the Fall Classic.
“It’s a great matchup,” Astros All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa said. “They have a great team. We have a great team. We’re going to compete and see what happens.”
Although the 102-win Cleveland Indians used their American League record-setting 22game winning streak to finish with a better record than the As-
tros, the Astros and Dodgers appeared to be on a collision course for most of the regular season.
The Astros spent almost the entire first half as the best team in baseball, the Dodgers the entire second half. Both are fueled by a blend of young stars and proven veterans. Between Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander, Justin Turner and Jose Altuve, Corey Seager and Carlos Correa, the series between former NL West rivals won’t lack for star power.
Only three since 1942
Overall, the matchup marks the eighth between 100-win teams in 117 World Series. Only three have occurred since 1942.
“We have to do some homework, try to see some video since they’re not in our league and we haven’t played them for a while,” Altuve said. “But they are in the same situation. They haven’t played us.”
The Astros and Dodgers have played in the postseason only once, in the 1981 National League Division Series the Dodgers won 3-2. They last played in the regular season via interleague play in August 2015, a three-game series at Minute Maid Park the Astros swept and in which Mike Fiers threw his no-hitter.
These Dodgers swept the Arizona Diamondbacks and took four of five from the reigning champion Chicago Cubs to advance to their first World Series since 1988.
They are armed with a dynamic rotation led by Kershaw, 29, the Dallas native who has three Cy Young Awards and seven All-Star team appearances to his name.
A key matchup will be the Astros’ bats against the Dodgers’ bullpen, which has a 2.28 ERA in 71 innings this postseason. Their All-Star closer, Kenley Jansen, hasn’t allowed an earned run in eight innings. Brandon Morrow has surrendered one in 81⁄3. Kenta Maeda, a starter by trade, has been perfect in each of his five one-inning relief appearances.
The status of Seager, the Dodgers’ All-Star shortstop, will loom over the series. Seager missed the National League Championship Series because of a back injury.
But manager Dave Roberts said Sunday that the team was “very confident” Seager was ready to return.
Verlander, Hill in Game 2
Following Kershaw in Game 1, the Dodgers will start Rich Hill in Game 2, Yu Darvish in Game 3 and Alex Wood in Game 4. After Dallas Keuchel in Game 1 and Verlander in Game 2, it’s likely the Astros will pitch ALCS Game 7 heroes Lance McCullers Jr. and Charlie Morton in a yet-to-be-determined order.
After their Game 7 victory Saturday night, the Astros had only Sunday to regroup and travel to Los Angeles. They will work out at Dodger Stadium on Monday afternoon.
“Our guys are battle-tested now,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “We had no question coming in. I think more people had questions about us than we questioned ourselves.
“Now we chase the ultimate prize. There’s two teams standing. It’s a race to four wins now. At the start there’s a race to 11, we’ve got seven of them down.”