Enjoyable series and as I thought might happen the Astros overall strength proved just too much for the Phillies. Having taken the lead with the Schwarber home run the Phillies will wonder if they made the right call taking out the impressive Wheeler and bringing in Alvarado who struggled, giving up the 3 run homer to Alvarez which effectively decided the game. The Phillies fought hard and you fancy will be back, but really pleased for Dusty Baker who finally gets a World Series win as a manager. Roll on 2023.
Astros winning means the streak of different champions reduces from 8 to 5. A Phillies win would’ve made it 9, still one short of the record of 10 in a row from 1978-1987. If the record is to be broken, there will need to be 6 different champions in the next 6 years, (but not Red Sox, Nationals, Dodgers, Braves or Astros.)
Also, Houston Astros recent success is made all the more remarkable by the fact that of their 5 WS appearances since formation in 1962, 4 of them have come in the last 6 years. It seems their decision to move from NL to AL in 2013 worked out quite well for them!
I’m as big a baseball fan as anyone but the World Champions thing does always make me chuckle…….
Indeed. The World in World Series refers to a newspaper, not the planet we live on.
Not so
Henry is correct here. The “New York World” newspaper was not a sponsor of the World Series in the old days, but it did report on it like all the other papers. Calling it the World Series (Actually, originally it was the “World’s Championship Series”) was a marketing ploy to attract interest from the general public. It was also considered a given that the US champs were pretty much unbeatable by anyone else in the world - pretty indisputable at the time. This is maybe less so now as baseball is huge in Japan, Korea, Mexico, Cuba and a few other countries and has a healthy, if not enthusiastic following around the world.
It’s still probably safe to say that if the Astros were to challenge the best team from the rest of the world which, for the sake of argument, could be the Japan champions, Orix Buffaloes, then you’d still expect the American champions to prevail, such is the infrastructure, tradition, number of participants and ‘national game’ status of baseball in the US. But I honestly think MLB should think about opening this up as a route moving forward. The rest of the world sniggers at Americans and their lack of international awareness anyway, so this could be a step towards addressing that. Then again, I don’t think they really care what we think. 😂
I have a vague recollection of a Kent CCC player having a spell training with an MLB team (Mets maybe?) and writing an article about it. David Fulton or his era maybe? Anyone able to enlighten?
After USA beat Colombia last night, that confirmed that Team GB would not finish bottom of Pool C by virtue of their head to head victory over the Colombians.
They are now no longer required to go through qualifying phases to be involved in the next edition. All teams that finished 1st-4th in their pool are automatically qualified for next time
Comments
Thought letting Correa go would be a big miss but Peña was outstanding. As was Alvarez.
A Phillies win would’ve made it 9, still one short of the record of 10 in a row from 1978-1987.
If the record is to be broken, there will need to be 6 different champions in the next 6 years, (but not Red Sox, Nationals, Dodgers, Braves or Astros.)
Also, Houston Astros recent success is made all the more remarkable by the fact that of their 5 WS appearances since formation in 1962, 4 of them have come in the last 6 years. It seems their decision to move from NL to AL in 2013 worked out quite well for them!
Weird to see it laid out as a football field
David Fulton or his era maybe?
Anyone able to enlighten?
Australia upset Korea 8-7 last night in Pool B.
Team GB making their first ever appearance in WBC. They will play their first match against the USA in Phoenix on Saturday night.
A surprise 1-0 lead for Great Britain
In all honesty, with how incredibly talented the US side is, that is a very respectable result. Team GB did themselves proud.
The 3-run HR from Kyle Schwarber is what killed us.
It would surely be Team GB's best ever result in baseball?
They are now no longer required to go through qualifying phases to be involved in the next edition. All teams that finished 1st-4th in their pool are automatically qualified for next time
Brilliant news.