Houston You Have a World Series!

Before the 2012 season, The Houston Astros where in a complete rebuild phase. Five years later, they sit on top of the Baseball world. The Astros built their team around young talent, and additional pieces at this year’s trade deadline. They showed they were all in this season, and it worked.  With the tragedy this past summer, this Championship is a bright spot, for a city that needed one. Beating a team that spent $93,676,188 more than you is sign that a shift is happening in Major League Baseball and the Astros are at the forefront. You don’t have to spend ridiculous amounts of money to compete, but you have to be willing to improve the 25-man roster when the opportunity presents itself.

The Road to The Championship

Ending the regular season, winning 6 of 7 games and cruising into the Divisional Round matchup with Boston.  Once the Astros defeated the Boston Red Sox’s 3-1, winning those games got them a date with the New York Yankees, what a series that would turn out to be. A back and fourth battle that saw the Astros come within one game away from elimination. Having to win game 6 and 7 to punch their ticket to the big dance, they would handle that task by a combined score of 11-1 over those two games. Then it was off to Los Angeles for a date with the Dodgers, another series for the ages, that would need 7 games to decide a Championship. The Dodgers looking for their first title since 1988 and the Astros who had never won a title in franchise history.  Charlie Morton who normally is in the starting rotation, came out of the bullpen in game seven for 4 innings of good work to get the victory 5-1, final score, franchise history made, and a city still working out of a natural disaster, had something to celebrate.

The Money Trail

The road to the World Series for the Astros saw the beat the three teams that spent the most money in 2017. The Red Sox’s end of the season payroll was $146,271,428 when the season was over the Red Sox’s saw a quick exit to the post season and parted ways with their Manager. Next up, the New York Yankees who spent $116,999,999. They came within one game of making it to the World Series, but also parted ways with their manager but have a young core group of players that make them a contender next year. Last stop on the road to the Championship was the biggest spender of 2017, the Los Angeles Dodgers spent $179,701,188 time will tell what the offseason will bring from LA but if the $2.8 billion that they have spent since 1988, the assumption has to be that they will spend more money and to build on this year’s performance.

The Pieces

This Houston team has the pieces to be a strong team for a long time, with the majority of the teams core being under the age of 29 things are looking good in Huston. They had 3 players with 20 or more home runs led by George Springers 34 dingers, the Astros could put up runs. José Altuve led the way with hits 204, batting average.346, and on base percentage .410. On the defensive side of the diamond, the team went out and made a big splash at the trade deadline, Justin Verlander went 5-0 in his role in the rotation for the Astros to end the regular season, and 4-1 in the postseason. Charlie Morton led the team with 14 wins and 163 strikeouts and of course the most important 4 innings of his career to close out game seven of the World Series.

The Houston Astros were pushed to the the brink of elimination and took down the finical giants of the baseball world to become champions. Just five short years ago the Astros were moving from the National League to the American League and completely rebuilding the team. This team when you watch them reminds you of why you watch sports, the players on the field look like little leaguers having a blast playing the game that they love. This team seems to be the new mold for Major League, using analytics instead of money they were able to develop a winning formula and turn it into a championship in just five years.
So, celebrate Houston go nuts, your team is the 2017 World Series Champion!



Written By:
Carlo Guadagnino

Edited by
Anna Riddle