The 2022 World Series is set to start on Friday, October 28th, with the Philadelphia Phillies vs the Houston Astros. Both teams won their respective divisions with vastly different journeys to the big show. 

Philadelphia Phillies 

The Phillies, the 6 seed in the National League, who went on to win the NLCS had a total record of 9-2. On their journey to the World Series, they started against the St. Louis Cardinals. The series lasted only two games as the Phillies won 2-0 out of a best of 3 game series. They went on to play the Atlanta Braves when they won 3-1 to move to the NLCS to play the San Diego Padres. The Phillies went on to beat the Padres 4-1 in their series. Through the postseason designated hitter, Bryce Harper has been leading the team in all offensive categories batting .419, with 5 HR, 11 RBI, an OBP of .444, and a total of 18 hits. On the mound for the Phillies, their top 2 starters are Zach Wheeler who has had an ERA of 1.78 and is leading the team with 25 strikeouts. Aaron Nola has also started for them and has also led the team to 2 wins. The Phillies also like to bring out Seranthony Dominguez and Jose Alvarado. 

Houston Astros 

The Astros, who just beat the New York Yankees with a clean sweep of 4-0 for the ALCS, have had an unbeaten Postseason. They started with a bye as they were the number 1 seed for the American League playoffs. For round two they squared off against the Seattle Mariners who beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 in their best-of-3 series. The Astros made quick business of the Mariners beating them 3-0 in their best-of-5 series. They then went on to beat the Yankees with another sweep, 4-0, improving their playoff record to a perfect 7-0. The pitching staff for the Astros has been very good with Hector Neris leading the team with 2 wins, Framber Valdez with a 1.42 ERA and 15 strikeouts, Ryan Pressly’s 4 saves, and Rafael Montero with 3 holds. Offensively Yuli Gurriel leads the Astros offensive charge with the highest batting average of .367 and also leads the team with 11 hits. To go along with Gurriel, Alex Bregman is leading the team with an OBP of .375  and Jermey Pena leads the team with 3 HR. 

The World Series will start off with two games in Houston on Friday and Saturday then will move to Philadelphia for a three game stretch. For Game One, the starting pitchers are set to be Aaron Nola for the Phillies and Justin Verlander for the Astros. Nola is going to give a mix of a fastball that averages 93 mph about 33% of the time, a curve that comes in at 79 mph about 26% of the time, and a sinker that comes in 18% of the time that averages 92 mph. He also will throw a changeup 15% of the time that is about 85 mph on average followed by a cutter 6% of the time. Justin Verlander is a similar pitcher throwing his 95 mph fastball 50% of the time to go along with his slider which comes in 28% of the time and his curveball which comes in 18% of the time. He also will mix in the occasional changeup. The World Series is going to be a great series but the Astros show to be the more promising team with their history over the past 6 years. They have made the playoffs and have made it to the World Series 4 of the last seasons (won in 2017). They have made it to the ALCS every other year they did not make it to the World Series. 

My prediction is that the Astros will be the 2022 World Series champs over the Philadelphia Phillies in 5 games