For the third consecutive year, the Houston Astros qualified for postseason playoffs as well as making the World Series and that’s more than I can say for other teams. The Philadelphia Phillies, who were last in the World Series in 2009 when they lost to the Yankees.

Starting the series in game 1, the Phillies took a surprising comeback 6-5 win over the Astros. Astros started off strong and had five runs by the bottom of the third. It wouldn’t be until the top of the fifth when the Phillies would tie the ball game 5-5. In the top of the tenth inning, Realmuto of the Philadelphia Phillies would hit a home run to win the game for the Phillies. Kyle Tucker (Astros) was given the recognition for being the first player to hit multiple home runs in a single world series game.

In game 2 of Houston V. Philadelphia, the Astros tied the series and won the game with a score of 5-2. Of the 5 runs, 3 were scored off errors in the Phillies’ defense. The last two points to make the 5 runs was off a 2-run homerun by Bregman. In the second game of the series the Astros became the first team in the World Series history to start a game with three straight XBH’s (extra base-hits).

To start game 3 of the World Series, an award was given to the Los Angeles Dodgers own, Justin Turner. Turner was given the Roberto Clemente award. To make the series record 1-2, the Astros took a hard loss of 0-7. Giving his team high morale for the rest of game 3, Bryce Harper hit a 2-run home run in the bottom of the first. It was this homerun that would start off consecutive homeruns in the innings. The final score of game 3 was 5-0 Phillies. All 5 runs were from homeruns. In the bottom of the second, Phillies’ Alec Bohm hit his first postseason home run which also happened to be the 1,000^th home run in World Series history. Brandon Marsh’s home run in the bottom of the second inning would give the Phillies the title of first team in World Series history to hit three home runs in the first two innings. Unfortunately, this game gave recognition to an Astros player as well. Lance McCullers Jr. would be named the first pitcher to allow 5 home runs in a single game.

After both teams put up a good game in game 4, the Astros wouldn’t score until the top of the fifth when Jose Alvarado (Phillies) walked Yordan Alvarez (Astros) to bring in the runner from third after having full bases. Alex Bregman was next in the lineup after Alvarez and hit a double to score in two other runners from the bases. After Tucker (Astros) would hit a pop-fly, the runner at third would come in to make the score 4-0. Still in the top of the fifth, Yuli Gurriel hit a line drive to bring in another run from third making score 5-0. Throughout the entire game, the Astros wouldn’t give the Phillies a chance to hit the ball, making game 4 the 2^nd no-hitter game in World Series history. Game 4 would make the series record 2-2

With the series almost at an end, comes game 5. With his first World Series appearance and coming back from Tommy John surgery, Noah Syndergaard would be the Phillies starting pitcher. In the top of the first, the Astros had a strong start from Jose Altuve, hitting a double but making it a triple from an error by center field. Altuve would later score to make it 1-0. Starting off the bottom of the first for the Phillies, Kyle Schwarber hit a solo homerun. Each team would hold the score at 1-1 until the top of the fourth when rookie Jeremey Pena would score his own solo homerun making the score 2-1. The score remained the same once more until the top of the 8^th making the score 3-1 off an error from the first baseman. In the bottom of the 8^th, the Phillies would score from a line drive to the outfield making the score 3-2 which would also fortunately be the final score to end game 5.

To finish the World Series, the Astros would take it all with a final game score of 4-1 and a series record of 4-2. Neither team would score until the Phillies in the top of the 6^th scored from a homerun by Schwarber with another solo homerun. In the bottom of the 6^th, the Astros wanted revenge and Alvarez got it for the team. Yordan Alvarez hit a three-run homerun to make the score 3-1. To make the score 4-1, Christian Vazquez hit a line drive to left field. To end the world series, Kyle Tucker caught an out-of-play pop-fly for the third out in the 9^th inning.

Without cheating, the Astros became the 2022 World Series Champions making it their 2^nd title in franchise history and their scandal in 2017.  Dusty Baker, the Houston Astros’ manager received his first World Series ring as their manager. Along with getting his first ring, he has officially been given the title of the oldest MLB manager to receive a World Series ring. I mentioned earlier in my editorial about Pena being a rookie, well that rookie became the MVP for the 2022 World Series and was also given the title of “First Rookie Shortstop to win the Gold Glove.”

While we didn’t do it the right way the first time, I’d say we did it amazing this year. Taking the W for this year’s World Series means a lot for other Astros fans and myself. We proved that we could win without cheating and while arguably we would’ve won anyways in 2017, having that scandal made this year’s win so much sweeter. We came back into the World Series as a bigger and better team with one of our best rosters and players. In the great words of Dusty Baker: “How ‘Bout them Astros!”