World Series 2022: Initial Reaction to Phillies vs. Astros Matchup

The sixth-seeded Philadelphia Phillies will represent the National League against the top-seeded Houston Astros of the American League in the 2022 World Series.

A most unexpected match-up, it pits an Astros team that has yet to lose this postseason against a Phillies team that narrowly made the playoffs before captivating the baseball world with a relentless assault on the ball, thanks to the hottest bats in the Majors.

A resilient team who has proven the ability to hit its way out of any deficit, the NL champs are very much an unstoppable force heading for a collision with the unmoveable object in the Astros, who have been among the best in the sport for the last five years.

---

World Series 2022 Schedule*

• Game One: Friday, October 28 
• Game Two: Saturday, October 29 
• Game Three: Monday, October 31
• Game Four: Tuesday, November 1
• Game Five: Wednesday, November 2**
• Game Six: Friday, November 4**
• Game Seven: Saturday, November 5**

*Times to be determined. All games are broadcast on Fox.

**If necessary

---

Initial Reaction

The Astros belong in this series. They have been, for all intents and purposes, one of the best teams in the sport all year and definitely the best in their league.

The ease with which they swept both the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees in the divisional and championship series is reflective of a team who knows how good it is, wanted to show it and had little resistance to that goal.

The only thing left for them now is collecting the Commissioner's Trophy that has eluded them since their last title in 2017.

Their pitching is more than good enough to achieve that goal. There is enough talent in the Astros organization to fill multiple rotations and none has been better than Justin Verlander, who is likely to win another Cy Young.

Their hitting is equally as good. The team has lived for the long ball, with 12 of its 31 runs this postseason being via the home run. They are an efficient hitting team and can put up just enough runs to put any game out of hand. Their postseason .708 OPS, good for third in the Majors, says as much.

Except, for the team right in front of them in those rankings? The Phillies, with .750.

The NL champs have been unstoppable hitting the ball this postseason, thanks in large part to the $300 million man, Bryce Harper. The face of the franchise and, arguably, the biggest star in baseball came through big time in these playoffs. His five home runs are tied with the Yankees' Harrison Bader for the most in baseball while he and teammate Rhys Hoskins are responsible for the most RBIs in the postseason.

His SLG (.907) is the highest of any player with a minimum of five games played and his on-base percentage is just behind Atlanta's Matt Olson for No. 2 in the bigs.

Harper has been the star the Phillies needed and expected him to be when they signed him to that monster deal and he has helped fuel an offense that has never been out of any game, regardless of what the scoreboard said.

The key to the series will be Houston's ability to stimy those bats. Can Verlander, Framber Valdez, Lance McCullers Jr., Jose Urquidy, Cristian Velez and Luis Garcia keep Harper, Hoskins, Kyle Schwarber, Jean Segura, JT Realmuto and the rest of the lineup from running up the score?

If the Phillies can hit off of the Astros rotation like they have the rest of their postseason series, and Harper can be a deciding factor like he has for this team since they narrowly snuck into the playoffs late in the regular season, the Phillies are going to win their first championship since 2008.

If they do not, and the Astros are able to hold them somewhere around three or four runs a game, the Astros can exploit the bend-but-don't-break nature of Phillies aces Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, and continue their run of dominance to that elusive world title, which would be the first for legendary skipper Dusty Baker.