The 2017 World Series featured the two best teams in baseball from the regular season: the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros who won 104 and 101 games respectively. Going head to head, both teams played arguably one of the best World Series ever played. In a seven-game marathon of a series, the Astros defeated the Dodgers and brought home their first World Series title in franchise history.
Looking to change the narrative that he disappears in the post-season, Clayton Kershaw took the mound for the Dodgers in game one. Kershaw looked dominant early, as he cruised through three scoreless innings. Dallas Keuchel, the Astros pitcher for game one, got rattled early as he gave up a home run on the very first pitch to Chris Taylor. Kershaw’s lone mistake came on a fourth inning home run by Alex Bregman to tie the game at one run each. The Dodgers added some insurance for Kershaw in the form of a two-run Justin Turner home run in the sixth inning to put the Dodgers ahead for good.
After a relatively tame game one, the series proceeded to go off the rails and offered baseball fans some of the most entertaining World Series games ever played. The first two innings of game two saw both starting pitchers in complete control. Houston struck first in the top of the third on an RBI single by Alex Bregman. The Dodgers would tie it up on a Joc Pederson solo homer in the bottom of the fifth. Corey Seager would give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead with a sixth inning homer of his own. Down to their last six outs, the Astros would scratch a run across in the eighth inning to narrow the deficit to one. And then in the top of the ninth, Marwin Gonzales mashed a leadoff homer to tie the game at three and send it to extra innings. The game only got crazier from there, as the two teams went homer happy. Houston would go ahead for good on a two-run homer by George Springer in the top of the eleventh, to win 7-6.
Following an instant classic in game two, games three and four lacked any drama. After a scoreless first inning, the Astros lit up Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish for four runs in the second. The Dodgers manage one run in the top of the third on an RBI groundout by Corey Seager. They weren’t able to muster much more on offense, ultimately dropping game three 5-3. Game four was almost a carbon copy of game three, except the Dodgers came out on top of this one. Rich Hill took the mound for the Dodgers and pitched five and two thirds scoreless innings before George Springer hit a mammoth home run to give the Astros a one run lead. The Dodgers would get that run back in the top of the seventh to tie the game. In the top of the ninth the Dodgers would explode for five runs, en route to a game four victory to tie the series at two games apiece.
Remember the insane, drama laden game two that ended in extra innings? Game five completely surpassed that. The Dodgers jumped all over Keuchel early, knocking in three runs in the top of the first. They would tack on another to go up 4-0 in the fourth inning. The Astros responded quickly with four runs in the fourth. The lead wouldn’t last long though, as Cody Bellinger would go deep in the fifth to give the Dodgers a 7-4 lead. After tying the game at seven, the Astros took an 8-7 lead on a George Springer moonshot that exploded upon contact. Looking to close out a 12-9 lead in the top of the ninth, the Astros naturally gave up three runs to send the game into extra innings tied at 12. Houston went on to win on a walk-off single by Bregman.
Game six, like games three and four, was void of drama. It took until the third inning for the first run to be scored, as Houston took the lead on yet another homer by Springer; his fourth of the series. That was the only run the Astros would manage, as both Rich Hill and the Dodgers bullpen were able to quiet the Astros’ bats throughout the game. Los Angeles would take a lead in the sixth inning on an RBI double by Chris Taylor. LA would go on to win 3-1 to force a game seven.
The Dodgers’ quest for their first title in 29 years and the Astros’ hopes of their first ever title would all come down to game seven. The Astros again got to Yu Darvish early, tagging him for five runs in the first two innings. With Verlander on the mound, the Dodgers batters weren’t able to muster much of an offense, as they only brought across one run. The Astros, led by World Series MVP George Springer’s five home runs, would win game seven 5-1 and bring Houston their first World Series title.
