ALCS: Astros on Verge of Eliminating Yankees in World Series
The Astros and Cleveland Indians are on the verge of elimination in the World Series, a scenario that would make even the most casual baseball fan sweat.
This is nothing new.
“There are plenty of ways to lose a baseball game, even in the World Series,” former major leaguer and manager Larry Walker, who now works for ESPN, said at the end of his weekly podcast. “My favorite story is a Game 2 in ’67 in Toronto, when we were down by a run [in the ninth]. The Red Sox sent a runner over to second base. We challenged the runner by having him toss the bases to third. And I’m sure it was a first, but the runner went out, and the next thing you know, the Red Sox went ahead and won it.”
In the history of all six World Series, an underdog team has upset a favored team in the last week of the regular season and been eliminated.
The current world championship, of course, is an exception. Since the World Series was expanded to 20 teams in 1903, no team has been eliminated after the playoffs began. The last team to do so was the Atlanta Braves in 1995.
The Astros and Indians entered Monday’s Game 5 after being swept by the Chicago Cubs in the best-of-five Division Series. The Cubs, a National League Central champion and World Series favorite, swept Houston two days earlier.
The Houston Astros are 2.5 games back of the Kansas City Royals in the American League Central, but there is still plenty of time to turn things around.
After losing in Game 2 of the division series, the Indians turned to their Game 7 ace Corey Kluber, who has pitched well since being acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Indians, now 3-2 against Cleveland this year and 5-3 against the Red Sox since the World Series began, have a very good chance to win the World Series.
But they’re going to need a much better game from their ace than Cleveland received on Monday night.
Kluber, who