The Philadelphia Phillies punched their ticket to the 2022 World Series on Sunday afternoon, defeating the San Diego Padres 4-3 in Game 5 of the NLCS to secure a 4-1 series win. On Sunday evening, the Houston Astros followed suit, defeating the New York Yankees 6-5 to complete a sweep of the ALCS. Now, the two teams will square off in the 118th World Series.
This Fall Classic will match teams whose paths could not have been more different.
The Astros were the best team in the American League during the season. Houston went 106-56 on the season. That record was good enough to win the American League West by 16 was seven games better than the Yankees, who had the second-best record in the Junior Circuit during the season. The postseason has been more of the same. While it wasn’t a cakewalk, the Astros swept the Mariners in the Division Series before doing the same to the Yankees in the ALCS.
Since the Championship Series was added in 1969, the 1976 Cincinnati Reds are the only team to get through a postseason without losing. They went 7-0, sweeping the Phillies in the NLCS (which was best-of-five at the time) and the Yankees 4-0 in the World Series. Since the Division Series was added in 1995, no team has gone through a postseason without a single loss. So, entering the World Series at 7-0 in the postseason, the Astros will have a chance to make history.
For the Phillies, the season was decidedly less smooth. Philadelphia went 87-75, finished third in the National League East and was the last team from either league to clinch a playoff spot, doing so with a win against it’s World Series opponent. As a Wild Card, to even reach the Division Series, the Phillies first needed to win two of three games against the St. Louis Cardinals in the newly-formed Wild Card Series. Philadelphia did that, sweeping the Cardinals.
From that point, Philadelphia’s path began to resemble Houston’s. The Phillies dominated the 101-win Atlanta Braves, winning the NLDS against the NL East (and reigning World Series) champs in four games. That sent the Phillies to the NLCS in what was a battle of the Giant Slayers. San Diego couldn’t carry the momentum it had from its NLDS win over the 111-win Los Angeles Dodgers and fell to the Phillies in five games.
Given how different their paths were, it’s not at all surprising to see the Astros come into the World Series as heavy favorites over the Phillies.
Opening odds for World Series at @DKSportsbook:
Houston Astros -175
Philadelphia Phillies +150— VSiN (@VSiNLive) October 24, 2022
The unfortunate issue now is that because both teams won their respective League Championship Series so early, both will have a substantial wait before their next game. Game 1 of the World Series will not be played until Friday night. That means that fans will have to wait, as well.
Still, there’s already a lot of excitement about the matchup that lies ahead.
World Series 2022
Cheaters vs Cheesesteaks
@mlb @astros @Phillies #WorldSeries2022 #baseball #fallclassic— Doug Herzog (@dherzog77) October 24, 2022
Deep drives to left & clown questions, bros
vs.
Trash can jokes & nipple buzzer memesA content rich World Series.
— Sarah Spain (@SarahSpain) October 24, 2022
The Phillies are going to be taking on the Houston Astros int he World Series. This will be their toughest task yet. https://t.co/vGPiwziiFv
— Dave Uram (@MrUram) October 24, 2022
It’s a Phillies-Astros World Series
Probably Wheeler-Verlander in G1, Nola vs. Framber Valdez G2 — tremendous matchups
Astros won 106 games & have enough pitching to fill 2 rotations. But this is a race to 4 wins & the Phillies feel like they can beat anyone anywhere right now
— Corey Seidman (@CSeidmanNBCS) October 24, 2022
the Phillies won 19 fewer regular-season games than the Astros
that’s the 2nd-largest RS wins diff in a World Series, behind only 1906, when the White Sox won 23 fewer than the Cubs
CHW won that series
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 24, 2022
There’s a reason that matchups like this are so great. Because, for as much as we hear “nobody believes in us,” that and the narratives like it are so often false. Here, though, we have a true David vs. Goliath story. On one side is a team that not only dominated baseball all season but will now in its fourth World Series in six years. On the other is a team that hasn’t played in a World Series since 2009 and, before this season, hadn’t even made the playoffs since 2011.
It’s an underdog story seen in movies far more often than in real life. But as Philadelphia can attest, while the underdogs often fall short or the ultimate prize, sometimes the impossible is anything but.
