George Springer took home the World Series Most Valuable Player award after hitting five home runs over the span of seven games.
Credit:@BleacherReport
By: Vincent Pensabene
The 2017 World Series concluded last night with a winner-take-all Game Seven, pitting the Houston Astros against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The teams have played pretty evenly throughout the entire series, but the Astros’ early offense led them to win Game Seven by a score of 5-1.
This was Houston’s first ever World Series Championship, but not too many were shocked as Sports Illustrated had predicted this to happen in 2014. The Astros’ victory marks the second consecutive year that a team with over 100 losses in the regular season, just five years prior, has won the World Series.
The key for the Astros was the performances from starting pitchers Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander since manager AJ Hinch was not able to trust his bullpen for most of the postseason.
The Dodgers could not get much out of their mid-season acquisition Yu Darvish, who allowed nine total runs in 3.1 innings combined in his two World Series starts. He became the first pitcher in World Series history to have two starts without the completion of two innings in either game.
A significant difference between offenses was the power of center fielder George Springer, who had five home runs over the duration of the seven games, tying him for most in a single World Series. He broke the records for extra-base hits (8) and total bases (29). The numbers he produced against the Dodgers’ pitching staff and his superb defense were the reasons he took home the World Series Most Valuable Player award.
It will be interesting to see if these two teams will meet again for a rematch next year; every team in the playoffs this season has a chance of making it to the World Series next year. With an offseason to go, look out for teams attempting to build a group of players that can take down these two juggernauts. Baseball is only looking brighter from here on out.
