Preamble
Well, who expected the World Series to start like this? The heavily favorite Houston Astros began the series at home with the one-two punch of Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander starting Games 1 and 2. Maybe it wasn’t shocking that the Nationals were able to pull off an upset in Game 1—especially considering that they were coming off a sweep of the St Louis Cardinals in the NLCS—but their 12-3 shellacking of Houston in Game 2 certainly seemed like a statement game by a team prepared to make this a short series.
Needles to say, this makes Game 3 a major deal for the Astros. The number of MLB teams that have come back from an 0-3 start in a seven game postseason series? That would be one: the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who memorably defeated the New York Yankees in that year’s ALCS. The Astros need to win this game, and it doesn’t help that they will have to pull it off on the road, in the district’s first World Series game since before World War 2, against a team that has just won eight straight.
The good news? The pitching matchup should favor them. In theory, Houston’s Zack Greinke is as a ridiculously overqualified Number 3 starter as you can imagine and Washington’s Anibal Sanchez is only starting because the Nationals needed Patrick Corbin to come out of the bullpen to help squelch a potential Astros comeback back in Game 1.
Of course, Greinke has struggled a bit this postseason and Sanchez has been as sturdy-as-they-come for Washington, even taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the St Louis Cardinals. Plus, it won’t matter at all unless the vaunted Astros offense can stop stranding runners in scoring position. If the Astros lose today, they will have a bullpen game in tomorrow’s Game 4. They can’t be confident about that.
So, this could be the series. Should the Astros survive, they are absolutely talented enough to at least take two out of three here at Nationals Park and take the series back to Houston. If they lose, they could just be playing out the string. Stay tuned here to our liveblog to see how it turns out. If you would like the contribute, feel free to send us your thoughts either via email (to [email protected]) or on Twitter (to @HunterFelt). First pitch is scheduled right around 8:08pm EST (although I wouldn’t set your watch that that) but we’ll be back well before then. It’s Game 3 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park!
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