World Series: Everything you need to know about the Astros

Likely Game 1 starter and presumptive American League Cy Young winner Justin Verlander is 0-6 with a 5.68 ERA in seven career World Series starts (three with Detroit, four with Houston). Verlander, 39, was 18-4 this season, and his 1.75 ERA was the lowest ever by an Astros starter. His first World Series start was in 2006 when Phils shortstop Bryson Stott was in third grade.

The only man to manage more games without winning a World Series than Houston’s Dusty Baker is the late Gene Mauch, who was at the helm when the 1964 Phillies collapsed. This is Baker’s third crack at a title. His Giants lost in seven games to the Angels in 2002, and the Astros were beaten by the Braves last year in six. Baker, 73, does not have a contract beyond this season.

“I’m not really worried about my future because I’m just glad after having cancer and a stroke, I’m just glad to be here today and watch the sun come up every day hopefully [for] the next 10 to 12 years,” Baker said recently.

When the Astros debuted in 1962 (as the Houston Colt .45s), they were 0-17 against the Phillies, including 0-9 at Connie Mack Stadium, before winning the final game of the season series. That was a mediocre (81-80) Phillies club, which went 31-5 against the expansion Colts and Mets, and 50-75 against the rest of the league. This year, the Astros won two of three against the Phillies in the final series of the regular season. Houston’s two wins came after both teams clinched their postseason seeds. This is their first playoff meeting since the riveting 1980 NLCS, which the Phillies won in five games.

The Astros are 29-9 since Sept. 1 for a ridiculous .763 winning percentage. The Phillies are 23-19 (.548) in that same span.

A bettor with BetMGM in Colorado in April put $50 on the exact outcome of Houston beating the Phillies in the World Series at 2,500-1 odds. The ticket will pay $125,000 if the Astros win. Whew.

The Astros haven’t won a World Series since their sign-stealing championship in 2017. This will be their third appearance in the last four years. They were slight favorites (-140) before losing to the Braves last year, and heavy favorites (-235) when they lost to Washington in 2019. The Astros opened as moderate favorites (-180) for this series against the Phillies.

Jose Altuve, Yuli Gurriel, Alex Bregman, and pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. are the primary players left over from the 2017 club.

Altuve, who leads off, started the postseason in an ugly 0-for-25 slump before scratching out a couple of hits late in the ALCS against the Yankees. His 3-for-32 funk has dropped his career postseason average from .286 to .268.

Both teams are starting rookies at shortstop — Stott of the Phillies and Jeremy Peña of the Astros. Peña’s emergence has taken any sting out of allowing star Carlos Correa to walk in free agency (three years, $105.3 million with Minnesota). The 25-year-old Peña hit the unforgettable homer in the 18th inning that beat the Mariners in the ALDS, then grabbed MVP of the ALCS with two more bombs. He was drafted out of the University of Maine, which isn’t exactly a baseball factory.

Scott Rolen hit the first home run at Minute Maid Park (then Enron Field) as the Phillies beat the Astros, 4-1, on April 7, 2000.

Yordan Alvarez, Houston’s consensus MVP among positional players, hit a career-high 37 home runs and made his first All-Star team this season. He defected from Cuba in 2016 as a 19-year-old, and finally got to play in front of his parents this past August. “Before that,” he told the Houston Chronicle that night, “the only time I spent more than two days with them was six or seven years ago.” Earlier this year, he signed a six-year, $115 million extension.

Alvarez was merely a prospect when he was acquired by Houston in a 2016 trade-deadline deal from the Dodgers for relief pitcher Josh Fields. Fields had three decent seasons with L.A. but has been out of baseball since 2019.

First baseman Yuli Gurriel hit .242 this season after notching a career best .319 in 2021. He has picked it up in the postseason, however, by hitting .367 (11-for-30). Gurriel, 38, who also defected from Cuba, won an Olympic gold medal in 2004 for his native country.

The Astros were 51-30 on the road this year. Only the Dodgers (54-27) were better. Houston also has won all three of its postseason road games. The Astros haven’t played at Citizens Bank Park since 2017.

In 2014, the Astros used the No. 1 overall pick on pitcher Brady Aiken, but since they were unable to sign Aiken, they were compensated with the No. 2 overall pick in 2015. They took Bregman, who has been a foundational piece for the last six years. Aiken, meanwhile, is one of three players taken No. 1 overall who did not reach the majors.

Bregman’s 14 postseason home runs are the most ever by a third baseman; 11 of his dingers came off current or former All-Star pitchers.

The Astros are the third team to sweep their division and league championship series. The previous two — 2007 Rockies and 2014 Royals — both lost in the World Series.

The Astros bullpen led the majors with a 2.80 ERA during the regular season. In the playoffs, Houston’s relievers have a stunning 0.82 ERA (3 ER, 33 IP). All three runs came on solo homers. Phillies relievers have a 3.19 ERA (15 ER, 42⅓ IP, 6 HR).

Houston’s pitching coach Josh Miller was a 32nd-round pick by the Phillies in 2001. He was in the Phillies organization for three years and with Houston’s for four seasons. He never made it to the majors.

Reliever Hector Neris appeared in 405 games with the Phillies from 2014-21. The Astros signed him last November. He has pitched in five games this postseason, with the only blemish a home run by the Yankees’ Harrison Bader in Game 4 of the ALCS.

If the Astros again decide to carry all righthanders in their bullpen, it would mean the only lefty Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber would see is starting pitcher Framber Valdez. Among the bullpen hands, Harper is 0-for-5 against Neris and 1-for-3 with a home run against Rafael Montero. He has not faced closer Ryan Pressly. Schwarber is 0-for-5 against Neris and 0-for-2 off Pressly. If Houston activates lefty Will Smith, note that Harper is 2-for-14 with four walks off him, and Schwarber is 1-for-3.

When Pressly takes the mound, he scratches out the initials “T.P.” in the dirt in memory of his father, Tom, who died of kidney cancer in 2013. Dad’s advice still resonates: Throw the fastball for strikes and drop the hammer with the curve ball.

Pressly has converted 16 straight saves dating back to late July and has not allowed a run in five postseason appearances. The 33-year-old kicked around with the Twins for six years before the Astros made him their closer in 2020.

The pick: The Phillies were able to avoid the Dodgers and Mets, so this will be their stiffest test of the postseason. The heart sees the magic that has happened down at Citizens Bank Park the last few weeks, but the mind sees the Astros’ ridiculously dominant pitching and the Phillies’ sometimes adventurous defense. Houston in 6.