The Houston Astros of the American League will battle the National League’s Atlanta Braves in the 2021 World Series, which will see the first pitch thrown in Houston on Tuesday, October 26th. The Astros will have home-field advantage if the series goes seven games as the first two will be in Houston with the next three in Atlanta and the final two if necessary back in Texas.
Houston last captured baseball’s biggest prize in 2017 while Atlanta hasn’t won it since 1995.
The Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games in the National League Championship Series after downing the Milwaukee Brewers in four in the best-of-five Divisional Series. Meanwhile, Houston fought back from a 2-1 deficit to take care of the Boston Red Sox in six games during the American League Championship Series after ousting the Chicago White Sox in four in the divisional clash.
This is the third World Series appearance in the past five years for the Astros. They were edged in seven games by the Washington Nationals in 2019 and won the 2017 Fall Classic by getting past the Dodgers in seven games. In fact, those have been the only World Series appearances by the franchise up to now.
As for the Braves, the franchise reached the World Series four times before relocating to Atlanta. They won it as the Boston Braves in 1914 and as the Milwaukee Braves in 1957. Since arriving in Georgia, the club made it to the championship round in 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1999, winning it in 1995 against the Cleveland Indians.
Atlanta went 88-73 this season to top the NL East Division by 6.5 games and their 88 wins were the fewest of all the playoff teams this season. Houston finished the 162-game marathon with a record of 95-67 to take the AL West Division by 5 games.
Houston is red hot entering the final series as they won the final three games of the ALCS against Boston and outscored their opponents 23-3 in those three contests. They also have plenty of playoff experience with players such as Jose Alture, Carlos Correa, Michael Brantley and Alex Bregman. Their home-field advantage could also be crucial as four of the last seven World Series have gone the full seven games.
The last time Atlanta played in a World Series in 1999 they beat Houston along the way in the playoffs when the Astros were still playing in the National League. The Braves don’t have the recent playoff experience that Houston possesses but they possibly have the edge when it comes to starting pitching with the likes of Charlie Morton and Max Fried. Houston’s top pitcher, Justin Verlander, missed the 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery and they’ll need to rely on the arms of Luis Garcia and Framber Valdez.
These two teams haven’t faced each other anywhere on a baseball diamond since 2017. However, they met five times between 1997 and 2005 in the NL Division Series, with the Braves going 3-2 in those matchups. Houston then moved from the NL to the AL in 2013.
Entering the World Series, Eddie Rosario has been Atlanta’s top hitter in this year’s postseason with a batting average of .474 while Yordan Alvarez leads the Astros at .441. The Braves have hit 12 home runs so far and have batted for a .250 average with a pitching ERA of 3.41. The Astros have slugged 13 homers with a .281 batting average and a 4.50 ERA. Houston has scored 67 runs in their 10 playoff games while Atlanta has tallied 40.
This is the 117th edition of the World Series with the AL winning it 66 times and the NL taking it on the other 50 occasions. The bet365 oddsmakers are going with the recent World Series experience of the Astros and currently list them as -140 favorites to win the title with the Braves at +120.
Don’t forget, you can also wager on each individual game of the series as well as other popular future bets such as who will be named the series’ MVP, the correct score, and the total games etc.