World Series Game Seven, 2017

Astros at Dodgers, 5:00 PM PT, TV: Fox

This really has been one of the best World Series of recent memory. Consider this:

Literally every game of this Series has been a good one. Only once (the Dodgers’ 6-2 victory in Game 4) has the margin of victory been greater than two runs, and that featured a five-run rally by Los Angeles in the ninth.

It’ll be the fourth time in the past seven years the Fall Classic has stretched to the max and the second year in a row. There have been 38 previous Game Sevens, and the Cut Four team at MLB has ranked them all.

Tonight it will be Yu Darvish hoping to erase memories of his awful Game Three start (1 2/3 innings, six hits, four runs) followed by every other pitcher the Dodgers have, as needed. I’d expect to see Kershaw in relief unless Darvish has a fantastic performance deep into the game. The Astros will ask Lance McCullers to replicate his Game Three performance in which he went 5 1/3 innings, giving up three runs. He could be followed by Keuchel and Morton and any other arm in the Astros’ bullpen.

Today in baseball history:

  • 2001 The first major league game ever started in the month of November is a memorable one when the Yankees, for the second consecutive night, make a dramatic comeback in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game and go on to a World Series victory in extra innings. Tonight’s heroes are Scott Brosius, who hits a game-tying two out two-run homer to knot the game at 2-2, and Alfonso Soriano, who singles in Chuck Knoblauch in the 12th, giving the Yankees a 3-2 victory and 3-2 lead in the Fall Classic over the Diamondbacks.
  • 2010 Edgar Renteria, who drove in the winning run for the Marlins against Cleveland in the 11th inning during Game 7 of the 1997 Fall Classic, joins Yankees legends Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Yogi Berra as only the fourth player in baseball history to collect two World Series-winning hits. The Series MVP’s three-run homer off Cliff Lee in the seventh inning leads to San Francisco’s 3-1 victory over the Rangers, bringing a World Championship to the Giants for the first time since 1954.

Lineup:

691 thoughts on “World Series Game Seven, 2017

  1. Local sports talk show features a Houston fan who went to Games 6 & 7. He was praising the Dodger fans’ class in handling the loss. Other announcer said Dodger fans realize this won’t be the only time they meet (in the Series).

  2. Random thoughts:
    I wonder what difference Buehler might have in the WS. Not second guessing as much as curious.

    Almost glad the Dodgers lost one game to the Cubbies. It is less painful somehow knowing that are only losses weren’t in the WS. 10-4 is just a weird looking record for the playoffs.

    • Definitely dominance.
      Until they were dominated. But if they kept playing, it would probably remain close in the W/L record.

    • Buehler didn’t show much in a late-season audition, but I expect he’s at least in the ‘pen come spring.

    • Absolutely — thanks for posting.
      After the last two years, Dodgers need to have an opponent that doesn’t own the sympathy card. Makes me wish I didn’t root for the Yankees to win!

  3. WS stats for those with 18+ ABs

    Ave. Obp. Slg. Ops.

    Pederson — .333 .400 .944 1.344
    Forsythe — .278 .409 .333 .742
    Hernandez — .231 .375 .231 .606
    Seager — 222 .290 .370 .661
    Taylor — 222.344 .407 .751
    Barnes, — .174 .200 .217 .417
    Turner — .160 .323 .360 .683
    Puig . — 148 .179 .370 .549
    Bellinger. — 143 .172 .393 .565

  4. Here is the current 40 man roster. I can see quite a few changes coming to it.

    Pitchers
    Luis Avilan
    Pedro Baez (might be traded)
    Walker Buehler (In the 2018 rotation)
    Tony Cingrani
    Yu Darvish
    Grant Dayton
    Josh Fields
    Wilmer Font
    Yimi Garcia (Should be back in the 2018 bullpen)
    Rich Hill (In the 2018 rotation)
    Kenley Jansen
    Scott Kazmir (Hopefully gone)
    Clayton Kershaw (In the 2018 rotation)
    Adam Liberatore
    Kenta Maeda (In the 2018 bullpen?)
    Brandon McCarthy (Hopefully traded)
    Brandon Morrow
    Edward Paredes
    Josh Ravin
    Hyun-Jin Ryu (In the 2018 rotation or is he traded)
    Brock Stewart (In the 2018 rotation)
    Ross Stripling
    Julio Urias (2019 return?
    Tony Watson
    Alex Wood (In the 2018 rotation)

    Catchers
    Austin Barnes
    Kyle Farmer
    Yasmani Grandal (Could be traded, Tampa still needs a catcher)

    Infield
    Cody Bellinger
    Charlie Culberson (Bench if Taylor moved to second)
    Logan Forsythe (Can they trade his option if Taylor at second)
    Adrian Gonzalez (Retired)
    Tim Locastro
    Corey Seager
    Rob Segedin
    Justin Turner
    Chase Utley (doubt he will be back)

    Outfield
    O’Koyea Dickson
    Andre Ethier (Sorry to see you leave)
    Curtis Granderson (Gone)
    Franklin Gutierrez (Gone)

    Outfield
    Enrique Hernandez ( A keeper)
    Joc Pederson (Hope he stays. Back to CF if Taylor to 2B?)
    Yasiel Puig (Could be traded, never know)
    Chris Taylor
    Trayce Thompson (I have lost hope)
    Andrew Toles (If healthy, competes for LF or CF)
    Alex Verdugo (Competes for LF–or traded)

    • Since he’s done a 180, so have I — I hope Puig stays.
      Why do you think Joc might leave? He doesn’t have an option yet, does he?
      Logan came up big in the playoffs, so I’ve done a 180 on him.
      Urias definitely out for all of next year?
      CT not only soo valuable at the plate and in the field — but all around the field!

    • Guessing that Urias is available at the earliest in August. Mac and Kaz maybe candidates for the pen, as well as at the end of the rotation. Problem is that as vets they can’t be in revolving door with OKC. Besides Buehler,farm arms that have some shot at the Bigs at some point during 2018 include Sborz, Oaks, May, Santana and Alvarez. Smith could be in the running for backup catcher, Kendall in the outfield.

  5. Just got back to our LAX hotel. Feeling dispirited. In time, I will feel better that we went this far and got so close. In time. Thanks so much to each and every one of you for sharing all the ups and downs, and the joys and sorrows of this season. You helped me take a special ride into baseball and relationships. And thank you so much, Link, for being the engine that drove this vehicle. Best to you all…Lewis

  6. How about the possible final AB by Andre yielding the only run for the Blue tonight!

  7. Kersh “We’re all feeling the same hurt. Right now we’re just trying to embrace each other a little bit.”

  8. Thanks to all for getting me through this season with your humor and smarts and general good-guyness. Couldn’t and wouldn’t want to do it without you.

  9. When I ordered my WS shirt, I also got a Dodger flag to fly.
    I’ll put up my Thanksgiving flag tomorrow but keep the Blue flying for a while.

  10. Astro proposing on live TV!
    Luckily she said yes!
    Radio says it was Springer, I thought Fox said Correa.

  11. Would’ve been nice for a Dodger to win the first year of the “Willie Mays Award.”

    • Absolutely.
      I don’t hate them and I’m happy for them and their city. (Tho I wish I was saying that about LA.)

  12. Silver lining: I just saved a wack of money on not wanting to buy sports illustrated and dvds of this World Series, etc.

    • Thanks for helping make it so with this blog, Link!
      I’ve quoted it before — sharing with friends is doubling the joy, halving the sorrow.

      • Yes thanks Link. You have hosted us well the whole year long. And I do mean year, not just season.

    • I’m looking forward to it. But after coming this far, the only problem is nothing short of winning it all is a failure.
      Forget about emulating the Cubs — now LA has to copy the other blue, the Royals — return and win it all.

  13. I see the plan, Taylor Seager Turner get on and then Cody redeems himself by tying it all up

  14. If the Dodgers don’t win you will never see a TV set turned off faster in your life.

  15. Regardless I’m glad this is a home game. Not that I want to see another team celebrating at Dodger Stadium but it is still less painful than a huge crowd celebrating another team winning. Yes. It is very shallow but it is honest.

  16. In retrospect, I should’ve been rooting for LA to play the Yankees . . . if nothing else, to eliminate any sympathy story!

  17. AS great as the FO has been, the Granderson and Darvish acquisitions — to bolster the playoff roster — didn’t make the positive difference, at least in the Series.

    • They were plausible, and Darvish helped in some ways, but they haven’t been sufficient.

      • Worse than that in the WS– Darvish was counted on, perhaps to the detriment of other options.

    • We went out and acquired the best pitcher available (until Verlander) and he helped us get to the WS. Verlander would have cost us the farm.

  18. Last time this Series I felt this frustrated with the Bats was Game 3 (what’s common in those games, kids?) — but as anemic as they were, they were much more competitive.

  19. People who only saw the Series will be STUNNED when Cody wins Rookie of the Year (if they’re even paying attention).

  20. I really thought if we gave up only 1 HR we would win.
    I mean I knew there would be one for sure but hoped it would be easily over come.

  21. It’s like the Seinfeld bit about car reservations – we know how to get on base, just don’t know how to score.
    May that change right now!!

  22. I think I heard in the pre-game BS that Yu was getting happier with his slider but it was still a work in process. I know he has 10 other pitches, but with that, I would have started Wood.

  23. Thinking back fondly to Game 1 – of the regular season! Listened to the game while travelling back from Saskatoon on Greyhound. Such a fun 14-3 blow out.

  24. It is very quiet in my house right now. My son is just in the adjoining room as he is not enjoying watching tonight.

  25. I once got Manny Mota’s autograph when he played for the Tacoma Giants, but I liked him even better as a Dodger.

  26. Waste not want not.
    Not like they haven’t had their chances, AND with batter we (normally) want up there.

  27. Attention, Bats — there’s no tomorrow. And there’s no clock, C &C — be patient, Get Some Runs!

    • Re mycomment about blowouts – – what I really wanted was for the Dodgers not to be embarrassed.

  28. On top of everything else, my laptop just crashed.
    Dave might have already said this but I will take a page from his notebook – – this will only make the Dodger comeback sweeter!

  29. Great point my Smoltz about bringing in a real reliever in the middle of the inning vs. the start.

  30. That first shot of Reddick, I thought HE was holding the drink in his non-bat hand.

  31. Seriously, who’dve thunk Puig would be one of the most patient hitters on the team?

    • I hope not to be seeing the Dodgers swing through those pitches in my dreams tonight.

  32. Sure want a Dodger to win MVP . . . CT has to be in consideration so far, but believe it’s the hero of tonight.

  33. I told everyone I hope it’s not a blow-out — for either team. They deserve better than that.
    I still want the Dodgers to win, tho, and realize this will make me more nervous.

  34. So far, Astros only hurt Yu on a ball that looked less than a foot fair.
    Dodgers hurt themselves after that.

  35. I was chatting with my students today and asked if anyone wanted to watch the game with me tonight. One said they thought that sounded like fun.

    I laughed out loud and told them that we are way past fun at this point. Intense pressure maybe but fun? I don’t think so.

    Game 7.

    Have fun everyone. 😉

  36. Hard to believe that 3 hours from now we might be celebrating. Or 5 and a half hours from now.

  37. Text from my other brother: “You know I’m no baseball fan — but I am tonight. Go Dodger Blue”

    This has caught the fancy of the country!

  38. Win or lose, we have had a great season and I have enjoyed sharing the season with everyone here.

  39. The day that we hoped for/dreamt about/ wished for way way back at the start of the year is finally here.
    I was semi tempted to throw a sickie and stay home, but then it dawned on me that despite having classes, I probably have a better chance of following the game/ this blog from work.
    I just couldn’t see me sitting down for 3-4 or 5 uninterrupted hours at home while my toddlers were running around :).
    Enjoy the day everyone, i’ll be cheering loud from way over here.

  40. The MVP will come out of game 7. Quite a few have made significant contributions but nobody has separated themselves. Co-MVPs would be my guess.

    • Would have to be Springer if they win. Taylor if we win, or Joc…if he hits another home run he might have a shot. Cannot see a pitcher from either team unless someone tosses a no hitter tonight. If the announcers choose, it’ll be Altuve. If I was choosing, it’d be Forsythe and Taylor as co…