Baseball season has officially ended — and the Houston Astros are World Series champions yet again.
This year’s postseason was quite eventful, between Aaron Judge, the so-called MVP, ending his season with a groundout, the Astros throwing the second World Series no-hitter in MLB history and the Astros sweeping the Yankees in the American League Championship Series.
Let’s start with the American League Division Series and the National League Division Series.
The Mariners were David to the Houston Astros’ Goliath. Even with every baseball fan (excluding those from Houston) rooting against the Astros, Houston won the series 3-0.
The NLDS was the battle of southern California. It was difficult to choose which California team to root for. Do you root for the one with the PED-using all-star or the team that has one of the arguably most unlikable fanbases?
The Yankees’ performance in the ALCS was embarrassing to fans and their season alike. The Yankees ended their season just short of 99 wins.
Barring the ALCS, the Yankees had a monumental season. Judge hit 62 home runs this season, a single-season American League record.
While Judge had a record-breaking season, his postseason performance was embarrassing. He ended his postseason with not only a groundout but a .139 batting average as well.
The Yankees lost the ALCS 4-0 to the Astros.
The Astros’ bullpen won the World Series. They made pitching history when the bullpen was the first to “throw at least 40 innings in a single postseason and post a sub-1.00 ERA,” according to the MLB.
While it is justifiable to dislike many of the cheating 2017 Astros, there is one player that is undeniably a World Series champion. Justin Verlander threw his first World Series win this postseason. Verlander had another Cy Young-worthy season, with a 1.75 ERA, 5.9 WAR and 18 wins.
Nobody wanted the Astros to win this year’s World Series after they cheated their way through the 2017 World Series, yet their bullpen was able to bring them a 4-2 victory over the Phillies.
Houston was able to throw the second no-hitter in World Series history this season, thanks to Cristian Javier and three relievers. The Astros won the game 5-0, absolutely dominating Philadelphia.
There are five more months until spring training. Until then, Yankee fans will defend their 27 rings and Houston’s fans will remind everyone they do not need to cheat in order to win a World Series, even if the team still has five players from 2017.
hnewlontrujillo@theeagleonline.com
