These are the good old days of baseball
Yes, I’m an Astros fan.
Yes, I love this World Series.
I understand. This is like a battle in Hell between Beelzubub and Lucifer.
Yes, I wish the Astros were in it. And how can any Astros fan be interested in a matchup between the respective evil empires of the two leagues? Especially after all the pitiful whining they’ve done about the Astros?
Here’s why?
I don’t just love the Astros. I love baseball. And this may well be remembered as the most historic matchup between two baseball legends of all time.
Face it. Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, like it or not, are already sure-fire Hall of Famers and on the shortlist of the greatest power hitters in baseball history. I can only think of one other World Series matchup that featured two hitters of this stature. (more on that later)
These guys are this generation’s all-time greats, today’s giants of baseball. But Ruth and Gehrig never faced comparable competition in the World Series. Ted Williams never made it there. DiMaggio and Musial met in in 1943, but neither were home run hitters on this level (Musial only hit 13 that year.)
I can think of one World Series matchup of similar magnitude, Mantle and Mays in 1951 and 1962. Which baseball fan wouldn’t love to go back and watch these two in their primes on the same field.
But this is not just the Shohei, Judge show. The Dodgers have two other recent MVPs still in their prime, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. And the Yankees have former MVP Giancarlo Stanton and this generation’s equivalent of Mantle/Mays, young Juan Soto. Plus future Hall of Fame and Cy Young winning pitchers Gerritt Cole and Clayton Kershaw.
I can’t think of a World Series with more star power on both sides.
If you can think of one leave it in the comments.
But I’m watching this one for the pure pleasure of experiencing baseball history. And, for once in the era of the expanded playoff format, the two best teams are actually facing off.
In this series between two traditional Astros nemeses I am rooting for the lesser of two evils.
Give me Shohei and the Dodgers.
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