The 118th World Series begins tonight, and I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the cross purposes our two combatants find themselves in.

In one corner stands the Houston Astros, a 106-win juggernaut that rolled the American League West with the relative ease of flicking crumbs off of one’s knee, and then swept the upstart Seattle Mariners in the ALDS before perhaps putting an end to the Aaron Judge era in New York with a stunning sweep of the 27-time world champions.

The Astros boast one of the deepest pitching staffs in playoff baseball history, led alarmingly by 39-year-old Justin Verlander, who, after missing all but one start over the previous two years, returned from Tommy John surgery to post perhaps his greatest season with an 18-4 record, a 1.75 ERA and an 0.82 WHIP over 28 breakthtaking starts.

Following Verlander are left-hander Framber Valdez, who put together an MLB-record 25 consecutive quality starts in a single season enroute to a Cy Young-caliber season, Lance McCullers Jr., who returned from a forearm injury in time to make eight starts and kick himself into high gear for October, where he has already started two high-leverage games and performed as well anyone could reasonably hope, and the owner/operator of baseball’s most deceptive fastball, Cristian Javier.

The bullpen was among baseball’s best all year and has ramped it up in the postseason, surrendering only 3 earned runs on the strength of three solo home runs over 33 innings, a blistering statistic that fleshes out to an absurd 0.82 ERA.

The Astros have achieved their 7-0 postseason start without the contributions of some of their greatest threats – Jose Altuve (3-32) and Kyle Tucker (6-28) – and with Yordan’s ALDS-dominating bat falling silent in the ALCS (3-14).

Instead, they’ve received major contributions from guys like Chas McCormick, Jeremy Pena, the formerly fading Yuli Gurriel, and their catching battery Martin Maldonado and Christian Vazquez.

Two of Altuve’s hits came in the Game 4 clincher in New York, and Yordan’s game-tying single in the sixth inning of the same game could serve as precursors to a turnaround for both of Houston’s stars, but they’ll have their hands full in Game 1 with Phillies ace Aaron Nola.

Which leads us to the other corner and the Philadelphia Phillies.

At 87-75, the Phillies are serving the dual role of MLB’s Cinderella and the lightning rod for high profile clubs in Los Angeles, New York, and St. Louis, who argue that the three-game Wild Card Series, which expanded the postseason by one team per league, has cheapened MLB’s product and robbed America of its desired matchup of Dodgers vs. Yankees, or some other marquee match-up these cities and their writers believe the rest of us want.

Phooey.

The Phillies took the same road as every other National League club and got to the Fall Classic having to play without homefield advantage in any series, and without any notion of momentum from the regular season, having quite literally backed into the playoffs with a losing record in September/October.

Their road, by design and circumstance, was by far the toughest of them all and all the Phillies did was retire Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina in the Wild Card round sweep of St. Louis, take out the defending champion and division-rival Atlanta Braves in four games, and soundly defeat the San Diego Padres in a thrilling, albeit brief NLCS.

Philadelphia’s road to Houston started with a 22-29 record, the firing of manager Joe Girardi, and a mid-season turnaround that flew under the radar virtually all year.

Their Wild Card berth was the result of playing just well enough plus Milwaukee’s stubborn refusal to play even a pinch better than ‘below-average’ down the stretch.

The Phillies’ turnaround was great, but it wasn’t a headline grabber. Going 65-46 after a 22-29 start is not otherworldly, though it is impressive in its own right.

But it’s not the regular season that validates their standing, it’s this postseason and the sterling performances from Bryce Harper, Rhys Hoskins, Kyle Schwarber, Bryson Stott, Nola, and Zack Wheeler.

The Astros are a significantly superior team, but they would be fools to assume that fact alone will carry them to a dynasty-affirming title. These Phillies, this version that we have bared witness to over these playoffs, can outslug anyone, the Astros included.

For Philly, the inverse of the Astros has been true – their big names are coming up HUGE.

Hoskins postseason numbers don’t jump out at first (.182/.234/.545), but of his eight total hits, six have been for extra-bases, and five have been massive, impact home runs. His bat has turned the tide many times already and will play well at Minute Maid Park and the Crawford Boxes located just 315 feet down the left field line.

But if one is to weigh the fortunes of Philly, it’ll be through the performance of their right fielder, Bryce Harper.

Harper, the two-time NL MVP (2015, 2021) and undisputed leader of this fun, veteran-led Phillies team, has finally reached the Fall Classic after years of enduring the mounting voices uttering the words overrated and overpaid.

When Harper departed the Nationals after the 2018 season for his 13-year, $330 million deal with the Phillies, no one would have predicted then that his former team, with a 19-year-old Juan Soto replacing him, would not just make it to the World Series in that first season without Harper, but win the whole thing against these very Astros in a wild and unique seven-game series.

That same season, Harper’s Phillies would go 81-81, despite an extraordinary season from the man himself.

From that point on, Harper’s talents and effect were marginalized in casual, yet influential circles. Why would anyone pay that type of money for a guy whose former team immediately won a title without him?

The answer to that question came on when Harper swung his mighty bat at a Robert Suarez fastball that was tailing away from the plate, just not fast enough.

Bryce Harper, and his well-paid cohorts, have put this team on their shoulders and carried them further than anyone could have imagined when, back on October 3rd, the Astros displayed a Congratulations Philadelphia graphic on their own home scoreboard after the Phillies took down a scaled-back version of the Astros to clinch the National League’s final postseason spot.

But unlike last season, or even 2019, these Astros have a massive chip on their shoulders and are determined to not just win, but to use their exorbitant experience and pedigree to pulverize teams in their way.

While opposing fans continue to dog them for the 2017 sign-stealing scandal, the Astros themselves are hardened by the abuse; they welcome it and thrive off of the most vitriolic abuse.

But their gaze is narrowed beyond ‘proving the haters wrong.’

This is about affirming a dynasty and grabbing an elusive managerial ring for their beloved manager, Dusty Baker, who has bucked his usual persona and absolutely managed this postseason to perfection.

The Astros will not be caught off guard by a plucky Phillies team, and they won’t deny themselves the opportunity to cause fans outside of Houston the maximum amount of intellectual distress as they force people to reconcile the exploits, both true and false, of their dastardly deeds in ’17 and the years that have followed.

This is a real dynasty in Houston and, love them or hate them, they will put the finishing touches on earning the respect of everyone who views them at the end of this series.

Prediction: Astros in five

FUN STUFF

• While Astros reliever Phil Maton will continue to miss this postseason with a right-hand injury from punching an innocent wall, his brother Nick will be on the Phillies’ World Series roster.
• The Astros and Phillies met in their only other October tilt in the 1980 NLCS, with the Phillies winning the best-of-five series in five games, the final four of which went into extra innings, cementing the series as one of the greatest in MLB history.
• Former Astro Terry Puhl, who played in that fateful ’80 series, will throw out the first pitch for the Astros in Game 1.