“Someone had to win and someone had to lose, but I think the big winner was baseball: with the pitchers, the defensive plays, the home runs, the fans we had the best baseball month of the last ten years”.
So said Alex Rodriguez, MLB legend and now columnist for Fox Sports. And it’s impossible to blame him: the 2022 postseason was the most intense, exciting and spectacular in recent years. Unfortunately last night it ended: the Houston Astros won Game 6 and take home the second title in their history after the one in 2017.
The Astros enter game 6 with the advantage in the series for 3-2 and is played at Minute Maid Park in Houston: the starting pitchers are the same as in game 2: for Houston, the absolute protagonist of the victory in the second game, Framber Valdez and for Philadelphia Zack Wheeler.
The game initially goes very fast: the pitchers and the defenses hold on to the attacks until the sixth round, when Kyle Schwarber shoots the ball out of the Diamond for the advantage of the Phillies.
In the lower part of the same inning, both Altuve and the usual Jeremy Pena manage to get to base. On the plate there is Yordan Alvarez, great protagonist of the Division Series, but not made in the Championship and World Series up to that moment: he decides to beat the most important home run of his career to the outside center for overtaking his Astros on the score of 3-1.
Also in the sixth inning a hit by Cristian Vazquez sends Alex Bregman home: 4-1. Now the Astros are nine out of the title win.
Dusty Baker puts in his confidence pads from the strongest bullpen around and Philadelphia doesn’t score a single point. The game ends with a high pop from Castellanos caught by Kyle Tucker. The Houston Astros have won the 2022 World Series.
This is the victory of Dusty Baker, the manager with the most wins in the regular season (2093) in never having won the World Series, who managed it in his third appearance in the final act.
It is the victory of Jeremy Pena, in the first year in the Major League, replacement for Carlos Correa in the role of shortstop, who has won the Gold Glove, the MVP of the Championship Series and the MVP of the World Series.
It’s the victory of Yordan Alvarez, who with a regular season MVP season and postseason clutch shots was the determining factor for the title.
It is the victory of the Houston bullpen, which launched the second no hitter in the history of the World Series, after Don Larsen’s perfect game in 1956.
It is the victory of Trey Mancini who in 2020 had diagnosed him with colon cancer and had to start chemotherapy treatments. In 2021 he returned to the field and in 2022 he contributed to the victory of the World Series thanks to a crucial elimination in Game 5.
It is the victory of Houston, but above all of all baseball because this season has been unforgettable and we will miss him so much.
Thanks baseball, we will never be grateful enough.
Matteo, Bear for friends, therefore for everyone. I love the favorite pastime of Americans: baseball. Always a fan of the Boston Red Sox, but above all a fan of the Diamante. In love with Pedro Martinez’s fastball, Ken Griffey Jr’s swing and David Ortiz’s home runs. Dream in the drawer: watch a game from Fenway Park’s Green Monster.
