Still, it was impressive to witness the resilience of the Astros, who marched into Washington — which had not hosted the World Series since 1933 — and won without a hint of drama. It was not surprising for a team that has exceeded 100 victories in each of the last three seasons, though the roster does include 15 players who were not active for the Astros’ Series triumph in 2017.
“What have I learned about the older group that’s been here is their calmness in the World Series has doubled and tripled and multiplied,” Manager A.J. Hinch said before Game 6. “What I’ve learned from the guys that haven’t been here before — and they’re not necessarily young — is how much fun it is to do this for the first time.
“And so I see it as sort of a dual group of guys that have all come together, and they’re sharing their experiences, whether it’s Gerrit Cole’s intensity being in the first World Series of his career to a World Series M.V.P. in George Springer that just stays the course and then hits a huge home run to separate us in Game 5. That’s been fun for me, because this is a true team.”
Yet however much it would mean to veterans like Cole and Michael Brantley and rookies like Urquidy and Yordan Alvarez, a second Astros championship would not resonate as much nationally as their 2017 title. That World Series was one of the decade’s most riveting matchups: the first appearance by the Los Angeles Dodgers since 1988 and the first victory for a Houston franchise that started in 1962.
The 2017 World Series sometimes bordered on the absurd, with a record 25 homers in seven games, but it included everything a fan could want. It was book-ended by pitching masterpieces (Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 and Charlie Morton in Game 7), with two extra-inning victories by Houston in between. There was a clear hero (Springer, who hit .379 with five homers) and a clear goat (the Dodgers’ Yu Darvish, who lost twice with a 21.60 earned run average). From start to finish, it was the best World Series of the decade.
The most enduring story line, of course, came the year before, when the Chicago Cubs tasted glory for the first time since 1908. To do it, they had to overcome a three-games-to-one deficit against another luckless franchise, the Cleveland Indians, and a final body blow from Rajai Davis, who tied Game 7 with a laser-beam homer in the eighth inning. A rain delay, a rally in the 10th and the first career save by Mike Montgomery gave the Cubs the crown.
The best pitching performance of the decade? That’s easy: It came from the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner, who stifled the Kansas City Royals in relief for five innings to clinch Game 7 in 2014, two days after pitching a shutout in San Francisco.