The Houston Astros are World Series champions for 2022. The Astros defeated the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night in Game 6, 4-1, and in doing so took the series by a count of four games to two. For Houston, Framber Valdez was near flawless until allowing a sixth-inning solo homer to Kyle Schwarber that gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead. In the half of the sixth, Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez authored a beautiful three run home run off Phillies reliever José Alvarado that gave Houston a 3-1 lead that the lockdown bullpen would not relinquish. 

In addition to Valdez’s and Alvarez’s heroics, shortstop Jeremy Peña notched a pair of hits and was on base for the Alvarez homer. This marks the second World Series title for the Astros franchise. The other came in 2017, a season the Astros were later found to have illegally stole signs.

When Alvarez stepped to the plate in the sixth, the game was basically a 50/50 coin flip. After he touched the plate following his three run hit, the Astros had an 84.3% chance of winning the game for the World Series. Pitching depth was the Astros’ playoff calling card. That depth yielded dominance over the final 3 games of the series, as the Astros pitched limited to the Phillies to a total of three runs in Games 4, 5, and 6 combined. Game 4 a combined no-hitter for the Astros. The win in game 6 means that the Astros have become the 21st MLB franchise to win multiple World Series titles. The Astros haven’t been around all that long in MLB franchise terms though. Their first season came in 1962. No team has more than two titles. The Astros now join the Mets, Blue Jays, Marlins, and Royals as expansion teams to win multiple titles. 

MLB websites states ‘‘I think that’s what drove this team,” said Baker, who had been the winningest manager (2,093 wins and 11 previous postseason appearances) without a World Series title. “That’s what motivated them. The boos and the jeers that we got all over the country, it bothered these guys, but it also motivated them at the same time. And it wasn’t an us against the world thing. It was more of a ‘come together even closer’ type of thing.”  I think that’s one of the most important things as a professional team or even a team overall by putting all of the negative and hate behind you and just playing that game for the championship for you and your teammates.