White Sox .vs. Astros

More talk about pitching, pitching, pitching. The Houston Astros posted a 2.72 ERA for the entire NLCS, striking out 42 in 53 IP and allowing just 3 HR. More importantly, the Astros allowed 0 unearned runs (compared to 5 allowed by the Cardinals) and the Astros were able to hold the Cardinal offense to 16 runs in 5 games -- just barely more than 3 runs/game. During the regular season, the Cardinals scored nearly 5 runs/game. So the credit goes to the excellent Astros pitching staff and defense. The Cardinals hit 276/289/209 for the entire NLCS. That's a truly amazing accomplishment for the Astros. The Astros didn't hit that well themselves (329/409/278), but they didn't have to. The Cardinals pitched well, but not well enough. Kudos to the Astros for playing very well, and congratulations on winning the first pennant in franchise history. The only franchise older than the Astros never to get to the World Series is the Senators/Rangers, who've been around since 1961 and never won a pennant. Now that the Astros have won their first, the next oldest franchise without a pennant is the Washington Nationals, since 1969. The World Series will be good for one franchise either way; the White Sox haven't won a World Series since 1917, and the Astros have never won one since they started play in 1962.
It will be very interesting to see how the World Series plays out. I'm inclined to favor the White Sox, because of their fearsome starters. But if the NLCS taught us anything, it's that momentum means absolutely nothing.