Freddie Freeman will hit baseball’s top hits for the first time.
José Altuve and company are looking for more laurels. Another Venezuelan, Luis García, seems to have already found the formula to shine in the playoffs. Houston’s other pitchers, including Framber Valdez, will face Ozzie Albies, Austin Riley and all those young Atlanta hitters.
And Dusty Baker will continue to pursue a fall managerial coronation.
Braves-Astros, a lot of flavor in this World Series, in which even a father will face his son.
Brian Snitker is manager of the Braves. His son Troy is a hitting coach in Houston.
“We know the Snitkers are going to have a World Series trophy at home,” said the driver. “I don’t know who’s going to get it, but we’re going to have one, and that’s really nice.”
A duel that took six decades to develop will confront two teams that made it to the military in the National League and have met more than 700 times, including five playoff series.
Just remember Hank Aaron and Jimmy Wynn fighting a Home Run Derby at the Astrodome. Or Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz facing off against Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio on a June night.
Due to the schedule and COVID-19, the Astros and Braves have not met since 2017. They will collide on Tuesday, in the first game of the Fall Classic, in Houston.
The Astros open as favorites 3-2, according to the FanDuel site.
And let’s be clear: There are many fans who would rather not see either of these two teams at this point in October.
Altuve, the Puerto Rican Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman and the Cuban Yuli Gurriel will forever carry the tag of cheats, after being part of the Astros who devised a system to steal signals, on the way to the conquest of the 2019 World Series.
At Minute Maid Park they find ovations. In all the other parks they are greeted by the hostility reserved for the worst villains of the majors.
“Since the bad news, we have had to deal with what happened in 2017, and I think we all want to show the kind of players we are,” said Cuban Yordan Álvarez, MVP of the American League Championship Series. .
“I was not here with the team in 2017, but they booed me like everyone else. So I think we have the same mentality of wanting a World Series win to show that we are a great team. “
The Braves overcame the season-ending injuries of dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuña Jr. in July. They rebounded after languishing to 52-55 in early August, thanks to the help of NL Championship Series MVP Eddie Rosario.
Although the campus changed, the sounds and images persist. During the Championship Series, fans at Truist Park made reference to the “tomahawks” and chanted songs supposedly inspired by ethnic origins in the United States.
During an era of greater social justice, the Cleveland Indians changed their name to Guardians, and the Washington football team shed its racist nickname.
Atlanta hasn’t announced any changes, and that is sure to turn heads during the World Series. (AP)