Coming into this postseason, no one was expecting the Atlanta Braves to make it this far. While they have proved they are talented enough to make it to the World Series, it has not been an easy feat. The team has had to navigate star outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. tearing his ACL in July, Marcell Ozuna’s domestic violence issues and ace Mike Soroka tearing his achilles back in June.
The Astros were one of the heavy favorites to make the World Series coming into the playoffs. They made it to the World Series after beating the Chicago White Sox in four games and the Boston Red Sox in six games.
Game one of the World Series was dominated early by the Braves as they scored three runs in the first two innings against starter Framber Valdez.
The Braves started the game off with a bang when designated hitter Jorge Soler hit a solo home run on the third pitch of the night. This was also the very first leadoff home run in game one of the World Series in history.
Later on in the inning, Ozzie Albies was able to get on base and then was able to steal second, which set up a double by third baseman Austin Riley to send Albies home.
In the third inning, the Braves got two more runs when mid-season acquisition Adam Duvall hit a homerun. The Braves ended the first three innings leading 5-0. They would ride this hot start to a 6-2 victory and take an early 1-0 series lead.
Even after the Astros’ disappointing game one, they were able to flip the script on the Braves in game two, winning 7-2 thanks to five runs scored in the first two innings.
The Astros were led offensively by star second baseman Jose Altuve who went 2-5 batting, scoring on both hits.
After a sacrifice fly ball from Alex Bregman that Altuve scored on in the first, Kyle Tucker was able to score on a Jose Siri single in the second. Siri and Yori Gurriel were both able to score thanks to a fielding error by Eddie Rosario. Designated hitter Yordan Alvarez was able to score in the sixth on a Gurriel ground ball and Altuve scored in the seventh to put the game away.
Jose Urquidy had an excellent game pitching, giving up just two runs. Max Fried, the Braves starting pitcher, had a terrible second inning giving up four runs. He has struggled the entire postseason, giving up 17 runs in total. The bullpen kept the Astros to just two runs, but the damage was already done.
The Braves were not able to do much offensively as they were held to just two runs, both from catcher Travis d’Arnaud. He scored on a homerun in the second and was hit in on a single from Freddie Freeman in the fifth.
Unlike game one and two, game three was not a high scoring game at all, as the Braves controlled the game and won 2-0.
While the offense for both teams did not dominate like in the first two games, the Braves offense was able to do just enough to win game three. The Braves scored their first run in the third inning on a double from Riley that brought Rosario in. During the eighth inning, d’Arnaud was able to hit a solo homerun, ensuring the victory.
Ian Anderson had an excellent pitching performance throwing a no hitter over five innings pitched. In this game, he also became the first rookie pitcher to ever win a World Series game in Braves history. Afterwards, he was replaced and the bullpen kept up the pace, only giving up two hits the rest of the night.
Astros starter Luis Garcia had an okay night, only giving up the run in the third to Rosario. Reliever Kendall Graveman gave up the other run on a homerun in the eighth inning.
So far, this World Series has been exciting, with a lot of great performances. As of right now, I am favoring the Braves to win it if their bullpen can keep up what they have been doing. My biggest concern for them is losing starter Charlie Morton for an unknown amount of time due to injury, but if he comes back healthy, I think the Braves hold the advantage and will win their first World Series since 1995.
