The Astros win the pennant!

So the Dodgers’ opponent in the World Series will be the Astros. Congratulations to them for beating the Evil Empire in two consecutive must-win games yesterday and tonight.

The Astros were in the National League for the first fifty years of their existence, so they and the Dodgers have history together. The most memorable may be the 1980 season, when the Astros led the National League West by three games over the Dodgers going into the last series of the year. The Dodgers swept all three games of the series at Dodger Stadium to force a one-game playoff. The Astros won that game behind Joe Niekro and went on to the NLCS, which they lost to the Phillies, who went on to win the first World Series in their history.