By John Flanigan
Staff Writer
The Houston Astros, and Los Angeles (LA) Dodgers, battled in a thrilling seven-game series for the 2017 World Series title. In the end, the Astros defeated the Dodgers 5-1 in Game 7, winning their first World Series championship in franchise history.
“That was one of the best World Series I’ve ever seen,” said Rob Coloney, Director of Student Experience for the Jack Welch College of Business and former MLB announcer.
Houston finished the regular season with a record of 101-61. They opened a thrilling postseason run by defeating the Boston Red Sox in four games in the American League Division Series (ALDS). The Astros then clinched their first American League (AL) Pennant, by defeating the New York Yankees in seven games.
“Houston is an enjoyable team. They have a great core four of George Springer, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, and Alex Bregman,” said junior Brendan Flis.
The Dodgers finished the regular season with the best record in baseball at 104-58. They opened the playoffs by sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks in three games. LA then defeated the defending World Series champions, the Chicago Cubs, to clinch their 22nd National League (NL) Pennant.
“This is the best Dodgers team I have seen in a long time. They were dominant in the regular season, and carried that over to the postseason,” said junior, Nick Fabrizio. “But in the end, the Astros just wanted it more.”
Game 1 was a pitchers’ duel, as both teams had their aces on the mound. Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers and Dallas Keuchel of the Astros, battled in the record-setting heat as the temperature at first pitch was 103 degrees- the highest in MLB postseason history.
Kershaw struck out eleven, and both Justin Turner, and Chris Taylor, homered as the Dodgers won 3-1 and took a 1-0 series lead.
In a come-from-behind win that featured extra innings and six home runs, the Astros won Game 2, 7-6. In the eleventh inning, Connecticut native and World Series MVP, George Springer, hit a two-run home run to give the Astros a 7-5 lead at the time.
After a poor showing for most of the postseason, Springer tied the World Series record for home runs in a series with five.
Houston returned home for Game 3 and was propelled to a 5-3 victory in front of the home crowd.
In what was a pitchers’ duel until the ninth inning, the Dodgers took Game 4 to even up the series. Joc Pederson’s three-run homer capped off a five-run ninth inning Dodgers rally.
Game 5, was quite possibly one of the best baseball games of all-time. Houston took a 3-2 series lead with a 13-12 win in ten innings on an Alex Bregman walk-off single.
“That was easily one of the best baseball games I’ve ever watched. I stayed up until 2 AM and watched the whole game,” said Fabrizio.
LA returned home for Game 6 and with a 3-1 win, forced the decisive winner-takes-all Game 7, which Houston won by the score of 5-1.
“The combination of offensive power combined with some of the best young arms in the game allowed every baseball fan- casual and diehard- to enjoy many facets of the game,” Coloney said.
Congratulations to the Houston Astros and the city of Houston on a well-deserved World Series championship.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
