2019 World Series A Baseball Fans’ Dream Matchup
A World Series match-up between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros is just about the last thing anyone inside the State of New York wanted to see. Aside from Mets fans wanting to be in that Wild Card Game, they also didn’t want to see a divisional rival in the World Series. As for the Yankees, for the second time in three years, they were beaten by the Astros in the ALCS.
Aside from New York, there are plenty of other fan bases who did not want to see this World Series. However, if you are baseball fan, you could not ask for a better World Series. Just look at those pitching match-ups in the first three games:
Game 1: Max Scherzer v. Gerrit Cole
Game 2: Stephen Strasburg v. Justin Verlander
Game 3: Zack Greinke v. Patrick Corbin
Looking at those pitchers, Scherzer, Verlander, and Greinke look to be future Hall of Famers. Strasburg is a former first overall pick, who if you include this year’s likely results, is a three time top 10 Cy Young finalist. With the way he has pitched the last four years, who knows where his career will go.
The same can be said for Cole, who is arguably the best of this group right now. With respect to Cole and Strasburg, both pitchers are set to cash in big in free agency, but first comes their attempts at World Series glory.
As if the pitching wasn’t enough, there are players like Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Anthony Rendon, Juan Soto, George Springer, and more. There’s absolutely great starting pitching, and there are great position players. With both teams weakness being the bullpen, we could see some absolutely exciting finishes to what could very well be a seven game series and a great one at that.
Hopefully, this is the type of series which can get fans to forget a lot. That includes Ryan Zimmerman and Kurt Suzuki completing a nightmare inning against Paul Sewald, Luis Avilan, and Edwin Diaz. Soto’s bases clearing single off Josh Hader. Rendon and Soto homering off of Clayton Kershaw followed by a Howie Kendrick grand slam.
There’s Cole shutting down the Rays in Game 5. Cole would also shut down the Yankees, and he would have been looming in Game 7 if not for Altuve ending the Yankees season a half inning after DJ LeMahieu had seemed to save it.
Like most teams who made it to the World Series, they left plenty of teams and fans in their wake. For the fans, you could understand their being despondent and not wanting to watch anymore baseball. To the extent they’re able to get over it, they should really tune into this World Series because if you are a diehard baseball fan, this is exactly the type of World Series match-up you dream of seeing.