Astros-Dodgers is the World Series matchup we deserve

We are coming off an ALCS that went down to the wire and it was ostensibly decided by home field advantage, but in the end the winning team was the better one. In fact, the Astros were the best team in the American League all year, even if we didn’t notice. It’s true that they faltered in the middle of the year -- at the same time the Indians went on a bananas run -- but much of Houston’s mediocrity was due to injury. When healthy, they showed all year long how great they can be. New York, Cleveland and Boston should all be good for a long time and be back in the postseason for years to come, but the Astros are on another level and that culminated in a well-earned pennant.

Now, they’ll be meeting up with the team that was the best in baseball all year, though one that went on a similarly poor stretch through the middle of the season. If you’ll recall, in August and September, the Dodgers seemingly couldn’t win a baseball game and it was causing mass panic in Los Angeles. That, as many expected, would turn out to be a blip on the radar. They turned it back on in time for the end of the season and they’ve kept that momentum going in the postseason, dominating their way into the NL pennant. These are two extremely talented teams meeting up in the World Series, and it’s going to be an incredible matchup.

Seriously, just think about the matchups and narratives that we get to enjoy in this series. We have a couple of high-powered offenses led by young stars in Cody Bellinger, Yasiel Puig, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa. In Puig and Altuve, we have two of the most exciting players in baseball when they are at their best and two that won’t hold back their emotions when they do something well. In Correa and Corey Seager (assuming the latter is healthy), we have arguably the two most exciting young shortstops in a league full of them. In Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander we have the best pitcher in baseball against perhaps the best postseason pitcher in the league, non-Bumgarner division. In A.J. Hinch and Dave Roberts, we have two of the better young managers in baseball. Plus, we have a couple of fanbases who aren’t exactly used to World Series runs. The Astros, of course, have never won a title while the Dodgers haven’t won in 29 years. This is going to be a blast of a series, and we all need that in our lives.