Going into the World Series, our forecast model offered up a rare prediction: a perfectly 50-50 championship tossup between the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves. Atlanta disrupted that balance with a 6-2 win in Game 1, overcoming the loss of starting pitcher Charlie Morton (whose leg was fractured on a comebacker in the second inning) […]
First, we take a look at the World Series between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves, which appears evenly matched according to our model. Whatever happens, there will be takes about how Houston’s appearance cleanses (or doesn’t) its recent record of cheating, but there is a lot to be learned from the Astros’ success […]
A year ago, the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves came oh-so-close to meeting in Arlington, Texas, for MLB’s COVID-19-bubble World Series. Both teams took their respective league championship series to do-or-die Game 7s, but each fell short. This time around, nothing could get in their way: The Astros turned around the ALCS in a hurry […]
Just a couple of days ago, the Houston Astros were in big trouble. Luis García and José Urquidy — the starting pitchers for Games 2 and 3 of the ALCS — got roughed up in consecutive outings, as the Boston Red Sox crushed three grand slams and narrowly missed a championship-series record, with 21 runs […]
The 2021 MLB regular season came down to its final day with a lot of potential for chaos — including a possible four-way tie for the American League’s two wild-card slots and contingency plans for multiple extra games just to get the playoff field set. But while Sunday provided some momentary intrigue, the most dramatic […]