118th World Series: Houston Astros / Philadelphia Phillies

The 118th World Series* begins on Friday night in Houston. All games are at 8:00 ET.

Fri 1028 Game 1: Phillies at Astros   Nola / Verlander
Sat 1029 Game 2: Phillies at Astros   Wheeler / Valdez
Mon 1031 Game 3: Astros at Phillies
Tue 1101 Game 4: Astros at Phillies
Wed 1102 Game 5: Astros at Phillies
Fri 1104 Game 6: Phillies at Astros
Sat 1105 Game 7: Phillies at Astros

The Phillies have not been in the World Series since 2009. I had completely forgotten (or it never registered) that the Phillies were in consecutive World Series, winning in 2008 over the Rays.

The Astros have played in six consecutive ALCS, winning the pennant three times. They won the 2017 World Series, but lost in both 2019 and 2021.

             W   L    RS    RA   R/G  RA/G    HOME    ROAD    1RUN   EXINN
  Astros   106  56   737   518   4.5   3.2   55-26   51-30   28-16    5-6
  Phillies  87  75   747   685   4.6   4.2   47-34   40-41   22-25    8-6

The Phillies scored 10 more runs than the Astros during the regular season, but they also allowed 167 more runs.

The difference of 19 wins between the two teams is the second-largest difference between World Series opponents.

1906: 23 - Cubs (116-36)      /  White Sox (93-58)    Cubs lost 2-4
2022: 19 - Astros (106-56)    /  Phillies (87-75)     ?
1932: 17 - Yankees (107-47)   /  Cubs (90-64)         Yankees won 4-0
2018: 16 - Red Sox (108-54)   /  Dodgers (92-71)      Red Sox won 4-1
1998: 16 - Yankees (114-48)   /  Padres (98-64)       Yankees won 4-0
1961: 16 - Yankees (109-53)   /  Reds (93-61)         Yankees won 4-1
1944: 16 - Cardinals (105-49) /  Browns (89-65)       Cardinals won 4-2
1927: 16 - Yankees (110-44)   /  Pirates (94-60)      Yankees won 4-0
1907: 15 - Cubs (107-45)      /  Tigers (92-58)       Cubs won 4-0-1
2019: 14 - Astros (107-55)    /  Nationals (93-69)    Astros lost 3-4
1954: 14 - Cleveland (111-43) /  Giants (97-57)       Cleveland lost 0-4

Astros (7-0):

ALDS: 3-0 over the Mariners
ALCS: 4-0 over the Yankees  

Phillies (9-2):

NLWC: 2-0 over the Cardinals
NLDS: 3-1 over Atlanta
NLCS: 4-1 over the Padres

The last team to go undefeated in the postseason was the 1976 Reds -- well before the Wild Card Era. The Big Red Machine beat the Phillies in the NLCS 3-0 and swept the Yankees in the World Series 4-0.

11-1 - 2005 White Sox
11-1 - 1999 Yankees 
11-2 - 1998 Yankees 
11-3 - 2018 Red Sox
11-3 - 2007 Red Sox
11-3 - 2004 Red Sox
11-3 - 2008 Phillies
11-3 - 1995 Atlanta

The Phillies could become the first team to win 12 postseason games (thanks to the expanded wild card series) and not win the World Series.

Anthony Castrovince (mlb.com) looks at the two teams, position-by-position (and predicts Astros in 6):

1B: Phillies
2B: Astros
3B: Astros
SS: Astros
LF: Astros
CF: Astros
RF: Astros
 C: Phillies
DH: Phillies
SP: Astros
RP: Astros

Who do I think will win the Manfred Piece of Metal™? Houston would be a smart bet, I'm hoping for  the Phillies in 6 or, more likely, if they can pull it off, 7.

*: This is also the sixth season in which MLB has sold "presenting" sponsorships to all of its postseason series. The 2022 World Series is officially known as the "2022 World Series presented by Capital One" , which no one with any self-respect will say. How many more years until a corporation's name is placed before "World Series"? For now, the phrase "World Series" still possesses enough cachet or a company simply has not waved enough money in Manfred's baseball-hating mug. I'm sure a few have tried.