A Series for the Ages—Again

Yes, Game 7 turned out to be a blowout, with the Houston Astros thumping the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1. The rout started early and never stopped, far different from the other games. But instead of the romp, remember the wild and tense moments that led to Game 7.

Five of the first six games were won by two runs or less. Games were close and no leads were safe. In the first five games the teams hit 22 home runs, the most ever in a World Series. Game 5 alone was a classic—one of the best ever World Series games, with more than five hours of lead changes, homers, and clutch hits. Down 4-0 and later 7-4, the Astros won 13-12 in 10 innings, with the last man sliding on home plate as the crowd in Houston roared. Nothing could have been better for baseball, and both teams knew it.

“This series has been back and forth—two incredible teams, trying to get to the finish line,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “It’s good for our sport.”

Outfielder George Springer hit five home runs for the Astros in the series, tying an all-time record. He hit one in four straight games—also a record—and smashed his latest homer in Game 7, all but clinching the game with a 5-0 lead. He won MVP.

“The wildness of this series, the wackiness of this series, the emotional ups and downs, being able to play in this is something that I will never, ever forget, even if this is the only time I will ever get here,” Springer said.

Baseball has been at its best in the recent playoffs. Last year’s World Series battle between the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians was even better than this year’s, with the Indians leading 3-1 before Chicago came back, including a tense Game 7. The sport still has its problems. The regular season is long and slow. Playoff games take too many hours. Yet despite that, baseball is as good as it has ever been these days. Homers are up again and the fielding—fast, athletic and aggressive—is excellent.

What made the Astros so good? Losing. It sounds odd, but the team experimented like no other by dismissing all its mediocre players and building a team that lost 100 games three years in a row. In 2013, the Astros lost 111 games, a stunning pile of defeats that infuriated fans and made the team’s owner and coaches seem careless and inept. They weren’t, by any means. While the team suffered, the staff stocked young, and talented, players.

This has worked better than anyone could imagine. The Astros use a little more than half the money that the Dodgers spent on their team, and they managed to beat Los Angeles despite playing four games on the road. José Altuve, the flashy second baseman who slugs the ball, said he always believed.

“This year in spring training I realized like, this is the team,” Altuve said. “It’s something in our clubhouse, like a lot of chemistry, like good relationship between players, coaches, players with everybody, and I was like, OK, I kind of like believed it was the year. Everybody did it, and now we’re here.”

With a team that has this much talent, they could be there to last, too.