2021 World Series Preview

Tonight marks the start of the 2021 World Series between the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves. While I’m pretty sure I know who the majority of the baseball world will be rooting for, this series doesn’t look favorably on them. That said, the Braves have been defying the odds all postseason, so they could remain on fire and win their first series since 1995. Allow me to break down each team ahead of game 1 tonight in this World Series preview.

Atlanta Braves

As I said before, the Braves are on a huge hit streak, as they’ve worked to topple a couple of great teams in the Dodgers and Brewers. All this without their top star in Ronald Acuña Jr. However, one could argue the reason they made it to the World Series in the first place is because of how aggressive they’ve been in treading for players since Acuña went down.

Eddie Rosario, Joc Pederson, Adam Duval, and Jorge Soler are all on this team to help them recover from losing Acuña, and they’ve all had some big hits this postseason. Additionally, the Braves should be able to play all of them when they head to Houston and gain the DH, keeping all of those big bats in the lineup. Based on how they’ve played throughout the playoffs, I’d assume the outfield will consist of Rosario, Duval, and Pederson, with Soler taking the DH spot, unless they want to put in more defense in center and move Duval to right and Pederson to DH, sitting Soler. Either way, this team has depth to succeed with a DH. And, of course, they have an All Star infield at their disposal, too.

Braves Pitching! 

Their pitching has been solid, even without much depth in their favor. Their top three starters in Charlie Morton, Max Fried, and Ian Anderson should be able to perform well, even against a formidable lineup like Houston’s, but finding that fourth starter and reliable bullpen arms this series will be somewhat difficult. Tyler Matzek was amazing in game 6 of the NLCS, but I don’t think they have anyone else you can feel good about in the bullpen. 

Houston Astros

The Astros are the villains of the series, but they’re also the clear favorite. They have plus players in 7/8 positions in their lineup (depending on whether they have the DH at their disposal or not) and their pitching really sharpened up at the end of the ALCS after getting routed in games 2 and 3. But first, the hitting.

The Astros’ offense was tops in the league in wRC+, basically meaning they’re the best in the league at scoring, and that’s despite starting a catcher with batted .172 with a .573 OPS most of the year. Yordan Alvarez is especially hot right now, so the Braves might want to consider what the Red Sox didn’t do and just walk him most of the time he’s up. Either way, you still have to deal with the likes of Carlos Correa, Yuli Gurriel (who lead the AL in AVG this year), and Kyle Tucker behind him. It will certainly be a challenge.

The Astros’ pitching has taken a hit with Lance McCullers out, but they still have some good starters in Framber Valdez and Luis Garcia. They also have a really good (and deep) bullpen, which should help them out if the Braves get to one of those two early or if they don’t have a designated starter for games 3 and 4.

Conclusion

All in all, this should be a good series. Both teams have great offenses and (some) strong pitching, and I think the two teams are more even than most think. That said, Houston is still the favorite here. I’m going to make my official prediction as Braves in 7, as I’m still going to be rooting for them. Let me know what your prediction is in the comments below!

Image Source: sportslogos.net

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– Pat Shuman (@PShu1996 on Twitter) Check out my other articles here!