Finally, the Astros are World Series champions. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Finally. After fifty-five years of waiting and after enduring and winning amazing postseason battles in the ALCS and World Series, the Houston Astros are the 2017 MLB Champions and have fulfilled their promise to be Houston Strong and make Houston proud.
The Astros jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in Game 7 and never looked back, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 and taking the World Series 4-3. George Springer highlighted the offense with a two-run home run in the second while Charlie Morton pitched four amazing innings of relief to finish the game and seal the amazing end to a magical season.
Springer led off Game 7 with a double into the left-field corner in the top of the first, then scored on an error by Cody Bellinger as he tried to throw out Alex Bregman at first on a ground ball intended to move Springer to third. Bregman advanced to second on the error, then stole third before scoring on an RBI groundout by Jose Altuve, putting the Astros up 2-0 early before Yu Darvish could end the half inning. In the bottom of the inning, Lance McCullers Jr. allowed a leadoff double to Chris Taylor, then loaded the bases after hitting Justin Turner and Yasiel Puig. He was able to leave all three stranded after a groundout to preserve the lead and end the first inning.
In the top of the second, Brian McCann worked a leadoff walk after being down 0-2 to Darvish, then moved to third on a double by Marwin Gonzalez. McCann would score on an RBI groundout from McCullers to extend the lead to 3-0. Springer was up next and continued his amazing World Series with a two-run homer to make it 5-0 Astros, and for the second time in this series end Darvish's night early. Brandon Morrow took over for the Dodgers and was able to get the third out. McCullers put runners on again after a leadoff single by Logan Forsythe and then a one-out walk to Kike Hernandez but was able to get out of the trouble with some excellent defense behind him including the inning-ending double play by Correa.
Already willing to bring out the big guns, the Dodgers brought out Clayton Kershaw in relief in the top of the third inning. Kershaw as able to get the first 1-2-3 inning for Los Angeles including a strikeout. McCullers once again got into a stressful situation in the bottom of the inning, allowing another leadoff hit before hitting Turner for the second time, putting runners on first and second with no outs. McCullers was able to get a strikeout for the first out before A.J. Hinch made the call to his bullpen, bringing in Brad Peacock. Peacock was able to get a flyout and strikeout to end the inning and strand two more Dodgers runners as the Astros took their 5-0 lead into the fourth.
Kershaw was able to get through another inning in the top of the fourth, working around a one-out single by Marwin Gonzalez with a groundout and flyout. Peacock continued to do well, retiring the Dodgers in order including a strikeout to keep the Astros' five-run advantage intact after four innings.
Kershaw continued to dominate in the top of the fifth, getting two strikeouts in another 1-2-3 inning. Peacock issued a one-out walk to Corey Seager then a single to Turner, putting runners on first and second and prompting A.J. Hinch to bring in Francisco Liriano to face the left-handed Bellinger. Bellinger grounded out for the second out, then Chris Devenski came in and got the final out of the inning to keep the Dodgers off the scoreboard.
Carlos Correa led off the sixth with a single, then advanced to second on a groundout by Yuli Gurriel, then third on a groundout by McCann, but was left stranded as Kershaw intentionally walked the next two batters before getting the pinch-hitting Cameron Maybin to pop out to keep the Astros from adding to their lead. Morton took the mound for Houston in the bottom of the inning and allowed a leadoff single and no-out walk. The Dodgers then got their first run of the night on an RBI single from Andre Ethier, making a 5-1 game. Morton bounced back from it getting a strikeout and groundout to end the inning.
Kenley Jansen was next on the mound for the Dodgers in the top of the seventh and worked around a two-out walk to Altuve to get through the half inning. Morton returned in the bottom of the inning and was able to get through the heart of the Dodger's lineup on just eleven pitches to send the game into the eighth.
Alex Wood was next out of the Dodger's bullpen and was able to throw a scoreless, hitless inning in the top of the eighth. Morton returned for another inning of work in the bottom of the inning and was able to get through it by retiring the Dodgers in order and putting the Astros three outs away from the trophy.
Wood continued on in the top of the ninth and had another 1-2-3 inning to send the game to the bottom of the ninth. Down to their last chance, the Dodgers were unable to get anything done against as Morton went on to retire the Dodgers down in order including a groundout to seal the deal and begin the celebration over five decades in the making.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
There's no denying that this year's World Series champs (LA Dodgers) have some serious firepower on their roster. And one of the ways they were able to assemble such a talented team involved players like Shohei Ohtani being willing to differ their money.
Just this week, there was some speculation that the Yankees could do something similar when restructuring Gerrit Cole's contract, that would allow them more flexibility in the present.
The Yankees ended up calling Cole's bluff about opting out, and no adjustment was made to the contract.
But this situation got us thinking, would the Astros consider a tactic like this to maximize the roster? At this point, it doesn't seem all that likely. Just last year, the team handed out a $95 million contract to Josh Hader, without any differed money.
The other factor that also has to come into play is the tax threshold. The organization would have to give the okay to go over it again in order to make a splash signing this offseason. Which unfortunately does not sound like the plan right now when listening to GM Dana Brown at the Winter Meetings.
Astros pitcher hires a new agent
Now that MLB free agency is in full swing, most of the attention moving forward will be focused on players like Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, and Juan Soto.
But for Astros fans, there might be someone else to keep an eye on this offseason and next. Starting pitcher Hunter Brown quietly hired super agent Scott Boras recently.
With Brown still another season away from his first year of arbitration, he should be with the Astros for the foreseeable future.
However, the hiring of Boras does raise some interesting questions. Why make the move now? Certainly, Brown could use some more cash, as he's set to make less than a million in 2025.
Perhaps Brown wants to land some HEB commercials to fatten his wallet. And if Bregman does leave the team in free agency, a spot will open up for another player, in theory. And three of the players in the HEB ads are represented by Boras (Jose Altuve, Lance McCullers Jr. and Bregman).
Jeremy Pena has been stacking cash from Taquerias Arandas for several years now, maybe Brown would like an opportunity to do an endorsement similar to that.
I say all this half kidding, but Brown does look like the future ace of this staff, and I'm sure there are plenty of advertisers that would have interest in Hunter.
There is another element that could have initiated the hiring of Boras. Would Brown be willing to sign an extension early with the Astros similar to the deal the team made with Cristian Javier?
Their situations are actually pretty comparable, except Javier was one year further into his career (3 years of MLB service time) and eligible for arbitration before agreeing to the extension.
If Brown was heading into arbitration this offseason, it wouldn't be surprising at all for the Astros to be considering a long-term deal with him that buys up all his arbitration years. The 'Stros love these types of contract extensions. We've seen them do it with Bregman, the aforementioned Javier, and others.
One of the main differences though between Brown and Javier is their rookie year numbers. Brown only pitched 20.1 innings in his first season (2022). While Javier pitched 54.1 innings his rookie year. However, his rookie season was in 2020, so Javier completed a full year of service time despite the shortened season. Whereas Brown didn't get called up until September 2022.
Another difference is performance. Javier never posted an ERA over 3.55 in his first three seasons. As opposed to Brown, who had a disastrous year in 2023. He made 29 starts, recording an ERA over 5.
It wasn't until May of 2024 that Brown started using his two-seam fastball with great success and becoming one of the most dominant pitchers in the American League.
The Astros had a bigger sample size to judge Javier. However, if Brown has another quality season in 2025, Houston and Brown should definitely be having conversations about an extension. Especially with Framber Valdez being in the final year of his contract in 2025. Hunter could be the unquestioned ace one year from now.
Still, though, there are some concerns with handing out these early extensions. For example, if the Astros had it to do over again, would they still extend Javier?
After receiving his extension before the 2023 season, he went on to post the highest ERA of his career (4.56), and then blew out his elbow in May 2024.
And if we're going by Luis Garcia's recovery timeline from Tommy John surgery, we may not see Javier pitch at all in 2025.
So even with a sample size of three terrific seasons, the Javier extension looks like a miss with the benefit of hindsight. It will be interesting to see if that deal impacts Dana Brown's decision-making going forward.
Especially since Javier was Dana's first big contract extension as the Astros GM.
Be sure to watch the video as we discuss how the Astros can get the most out of their roster, the pros and cons of signing Hunter Brown early, and much more!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo discuss varied Astros topics. The post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon. Find all via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
_______________
Fans of Houston sports and Houston food can now score tickets to The Tailgate, CultureMap's all-out party devoted to everyone’s favorite way to get in the gameday spirit. The event, presented by Verizon, goes down from 6-9 pm November 11 at 8th Wonder. Tickets are $75 for VIP and $50 for General Admission. For a limited time, we’re giving you $10 off; use code SPORTSMAP at checkout. Get your tickets now!