Oct. 26, 2021, 7:35 p.m. ET
Reporting from Minute Maid Park
Here’s the answer to our earlier question about pitchers (like Charlie Morton) who have started World Series games for three different teams since 1980. The other five are: Roger Clemens (Red Sox, Yankees, Astros); Danny Jackson (Royals, Reds, Phillies); John Lackey (Angels, Red Sox, Cubs); Jack Morris (Tigers, Twins, Blue Jays) and Curt Schilling (Phillies, Diamondbacks, Red Sox).
Oct. 26, 2021, 7:30 p.m. ET
There are all kinds of M.V.P.s at this year’s World Series. There’s Freddie Freeman, who won the 2020 N.L. Most Valuable Player Award. And Jose Altuve, who won the 2017 A.L. M.V.P.
There are League Championship Series M.V.P.s (Yordan Alvarez, Eddie Rosario, Justin Verlander, Altuve, Dusty Baker) and an All-Star M.V.P. (Alex Bregman).
But if you ask Brent Strom, the Astros’ pitching coach, who his team’s M.V.P. is, he’d say Martín Maldonado, the catcher who was the second worst regular batter in the majors this season, and has been even worse in the postseason.
How does that work? Well, as James Wagner found out, Houston values Maldonado’s defense and his handling of the pitching staff so much that it is just fine going into every game knowing that his spot in the batting order will mostly likely result in three to four outs (he is 2 for 29 in the postseason thus far).
“People laughed at me when I said he’s our M.V.P.,” Strom said. “There was some stuff on Twitter, ‘The guy must be a drunk’ or ‘The guy must be stupid.’ But to me, he’s my M.V.P.”
But with Houston back in the World Series, even as nearly all of the team’s star pitchers have fallen away, Strom may have a point.
Oct. 26, 2021, 7:21 p.m. ET
Reporting from Minute Maid Park
I’m very proud (OK, irrationally proud) of an extremely odd skill: I can name the starting pitchers for every World Series game since 1979, and every final play since 1960. Charlie Morton appears on both lists: He started Game 4 for Houston in 2017, got the last out in Game 7 of that World Series, and started Game 3 for Tampa Bay in 2020.
Morton starts for Atlanta in Game 1, making him the first pitcher ever to get the last out of the World Series for one team, then face that team in a later World Series. But there’s more, with a hat tip to Michael Medvin of the YES Network: Tonight, Morton will become the sixth pitcher since 1980 to start for three different teams in the World Series. How many of the others can you name?
Oct. 26, 2021, 7:15 p.m. ET
With Houston hosting Game 1 and enjoying home-field advantage, Atlanta will bat first tonight. But it’s a wonder Atlanta is even in the game; in fact, it’s somewhat amazing Atlanta made the postseason at all.
Injuries. Off-field turmoil. Early losses. They all fed a sense of disarray and disappointment around a team, seen before opening day as a contender, that did not have a winning record until Aug. 6.
“You know, even teams that don’t have great years get on a run, even the bad teams,” Brian Snitker, Atlanta’s manager, observed over the weekend after his team won the National League pennant.
“We hadn’t got on a run yet and we weren’t a bad team,” he added. “We just had a hard time putting everything together for an extended period of the season. But we were a good team, and I just kept thinking, man, our best baseball’s ahead of us.”
We looked at the ups and downs of Atlanta’s season — one with few rivals in history for such a wild path to the World Series.
Oct. 26, 2021, 7:01 p.m. ET
The experience gap in Game 1’s pitching matchup is wide. Atlanta’s Charlie Morton, a 37-year-old right-hander, is in his 14th season and has 16 career postseason appearances (15 starts). This is his third World Series, and in his most memorable postseason moment — which was his lone relief appearance — he threw four solid innings to close out Game 7 of the 2017 World Series, securing the Astros their first championship.
Framber Valdez, 27, is in his fourth season but had never started more than 10 games in a year until 2021. He caught on quickly, with a 3.14 E.R.A. in 22 starts. Like Morton, though, Valdez is no stranger to the postseason: This will be his eighth appearance (seventh start) over the last two Octobers; he won three games in Houston’s playoff run last year. While he got off to a slow start in the 2021 playoffs, his last start was an eight-inning masterpiece that was the longest appearance by any starter this postseason.
Oct. 26, 2021, 7:00 p.m. ET
Watching the 2021 World Series is fairly straightforward.
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Who: The Atlanta Braves vs. the Houston Astros
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What: The 117th World Series
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When: Game 1 begins tonight at 8:09 p.m. Eastern
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Where: Minute Maid Park, Houston
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Watch: The games will be broadcast on Fox and can be streamed on various services like FuboTV, Hulu Live and YouTube TV.
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