'This win, this night, was a wholesome elixir for a dying pastime,' writes inkstainedretch. 'The Phillies have stolen home-field advantage for the fourth straight time this postseason, and, in Philly, that’s a helluva thing.'
With the guile and perseverance that marks this as the most thrilling season in franchise history, the team that fired its manager on June 3, the team that needed 160 games to back into the postseason with the first No. 6 seed in baseball history, won Game 1 of a World Series they have no business being in. They won against the best team in baseball over the last six seasons — a team against which they have played extra innings in five of their six postseason games, going back to the 1980 NLCS .
Thanks in part to the underdog run the Eagles went on in 2017, and thanks in part to the arrogant misdeeds of the Astros in the past, America is a nation whose World Series sympathies are directed on one franchise, and one franchise only. An extremely unscientific study — 100,000tracked by an online betting site — showed that only six of 50 states favored the Astros, who are in the Series for the fourth time in the last six seasons.
Castellanos, urged by left fielder Kyle Schwarber, inched in a bit after Jose Altuve stole second base, but still ...Game 1′s have been special this postseason.