After 162 games over seven months, the Houston Astros are officially World Series Champions. The World Series is the final series of games over a four-round playoff system. In the MLB (Major League Baseball), the playoffs are divided into four rounds. The first round, the Wildcard Series, is the best of three. This is for the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th best teams in the American League (AL) and National League (NL). If a team is top 2 in the AL or NL, they will get to skip this round. The winners of the Wildcard round will move on to the divisional round and play the top 2 teams in their conference. The winners of that round will advance to the championship round. This round will determine the American League winners and National League winners. These winners will play each other in the world series, which is a best of seven games series. Which  teams participated in the World Series?

On one side of the diamond, there were the Houston Astros.  Key players such as Jose Altuve and Yordan Alverez helped lead the team deep into the postseason. As the number one seed in the American League, they were faced with high expectations, and they followed through. They steamrolled the Mariners and swept the New York Yankees to get them to where they are today. Despite still receiving hate over the controversial 2018 World Series, they overcame the adversity and eventually became World Series Champions. 

On the other side of the baseball diamond, there is the Philadelphia Phillies. They came a long way to make it to the final series. Big free agent signings in the offseason of Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos bolstered their weak outfield and added some much-needed depth to the batting order. Though troubles with injuries altered their course, they ended up as the sixth seed in the playoffs and were entered into the Wildcard Series. Slowly making their way through the bracket, led by the power-hitting Bryce Harper, who currently has a .373 batting average and an astounding 6 home runs this postseason. Sadly, this was not enough for the Phillies and they were unable to finish off their amazing playoff run.

Game one began the World Series on a high note. A pitching matchup of Aaron Nola and Justin Verlander was supposed to make it a defensive game, but it was quite the opposite. Despite a two-home run game by Kyle Tucker, the Phillies won game one with a go-ahead home run by J.T. Realmuto.

Game two was less interesting, ending in a 5-2 win by the Astros. The Astros were able to score early with 3 runs in the first. Since then, the Phillies were scrambling to deduct the deficit, but it just didn’t happen. This brought the series to a tie 1-1.

The Phillies’ offense exploded in game three. Now playing at home, the Phillies were the second team in world series history to hit 5 home runs in a game. With Home runs from Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, and Rhyse Hoskins. The Phillies ended up shutting out the Astros 7-0 to go up 2-1 in the series. 

In game four of the World Series, Houston threw the first-ever combined no-hitter in postseason history: all the pitchers of one team collectively stopped the other team from getting a recorded hit. This tied up the series to 2-2 going into game five.

Game five was the turning point in the series. The Phillies were looking to bounce back from their disappointing game the night before and wore their powder blue uniforms for the first time in the World Series. The score was close for the entirety of the game. The game ended after a stunning catch by right fielder Chas McCormick. 

The final game of the series was game six, a fairly uneventful match with the only points being scored in the sixth inning. Yordan Alvarez hit a go-ahead, three-run, 450-foot bomb to center field to put the Phillies up 3-1. Former Red Sox player Christian Vazquez then hit an RBI (runner batted in) single to put them up 4-1. This eventually became the final score after a pop-up by Nick Castellanos was caught by right fielder Kyle Tucker.

Students were asked about whom they wanted to win. Jake Schulte, a senior, shared that “I’m rooting for the Phillies… but I think the Astros will win.” Though Philadelphia is a rival sports city, most students seemed to be cheering on the Phillies. Another HHS student, Charlie Niehoff, said that “I wanted Philly to win because I love Bryce Harper.” Players have a significant influence on which team somebody roots for.  

The 2022 world series was what everybody hoped for. With big moments and a lot of great defensive plays, it was exciting to watch throughout the six-game series. Though it was fun, the world series also left baseball fans with a melancholy feeling as it is the last game until spring training in march.  The Astros are World Series champions and it will be exciting to see if they can repeat and excel next season.