Houston Astros: Five biggest road blocks to a World Series title

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers are ranked fourth not because of their level of talent (which is insanely great), but because, like the aforementioned Cubs, we have to get through the American League and they have to get through the National League in order for our two teams to meet.

And while the Houston Astros have been the best team in the American League, they have slipped in the second half of the season. Now a lot of that is due to injuries and lack of consistency from the pitching staff, but the Dodgers have suffered the loss of their perennial ace (and perhaps the best pitcher of his generation) Clayton Kershaw and have not fallen off despite that.

As dominant as the Astros offense has been, which it is still head and shoulders above the rest of major league baseball, that’s how dominant the Dodgers pitching has been.

And that’s what would make this matchup dynamite to watch. The Astros lead baseball in virtually every offensive category while the Dodgers lead in virtually every pitching category.

Houston leads the major leagues in runs scored, RBIs, hits, batting average, total bases, OPS (meaning they also lead in On-base and slugging percentage but it’s just quicker to do OPS as a catch all), home runs and are dead last in strikeouts as the only team with less than 937 strikeouts at 878 k’s.  Wow.

Now whatever the Astros lineup is to offensive stats, that’s what the Dodgers rotation and bullpen is to pitching stats.

Now whatever the Astros lineup is to offensive stats, that’s what the Dodgers rotation and bullpen is to pitching stats. The team is first in overall ERA, earned runs allowed, walks allowed, batting average against, shutouts, tied for first in saves and fourth in strikeouts in all of major league baseball (Astros pitchers are actually second in all of MLB in strikeouts.)

And a majority of these numbers were put up before adding Yu Darvish to the rotation, who since coming over has posted a 3.13 ERA with 29 strikeouts over 23 innings in four starts.

Again, the Dodgers rank fourth on this list because the road to these two teams meeting up is through four rounds of playoff baseball before the matchup could happen and playoff baseball is the most unpredictable of all, so despite regular season records, this matchup is still unlikely due to the volatile nature that is the post season for major league baseball.

If these two teams were to meet though, it would be incredible to see these two powerhouses go toe to toe.