It was the 39th time that the World Series needed a seventh game to decide the championship.
The last time was last year when Chicago Cubs win 8-7 against Cleveland Indians to capture its first title in 108 years.
The first time a seventh game was needed was in 1909.
Back then, Pittsburgh Pirates shutout Detroit Tigers 8-0 to become champion.
Since the first World Series was played in 1903, there has been a seventh game at least one in each decade.
The most were played in the sixties, when a seventh game was needed in six Series.
This years seventh game in the fourth in this decade.
The last time that there were four was in the eighties.
The last time that there had been two consecutive World Series with seven games was in 2001 and 2002.
In 2001, Arizona Diamondbacks won the Series 4-3 against New York Yankees and in 2002, it was Anaheim Angels that won 4-3 against San Francisco Giants.
The most consecutive years with a seventh game is four, which happened in 1955-1958.
In six of the twelve decades since the first World Series was played, a seventh game was needed in the year that ended with a '7'.
There was a 7-game World Series in 1947, 1957, 1967, 1987, 1997 and this year.
Before tonight's game started, two more Dodger-legends threw out the ceremonial first pitch: 91-year old Don Newcombe and 81-year old Sandy Koufax, both pitchers.
Don Newcombe pitched for the Dodgers in 1949-1951 and again in 1954-1958.
He was the National League Rookie of the Year in 1949, won the World Series in 1955 and was both the National League Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award-winner in 1956.
Sandy Koufax played his entire career with the Dodgers (1955-1966).
Koufax was the National League MVP in 1963 and won the Cy Young Award in 1963, 1965 and 1966.
He won the World Series with the Dodgers in 1955, 1959, 1963 and 1965.
In the last two Series, Koufax was the MVP.
The two pitching-legends threw the ball to two other Dodger-greats, Steve Garvey and Rick Monday.
As first baseman, Garvey played for the Dodgers in 1969-1982.
He was the NL MVP in 1974 and played in ten All Star Games.
Centerfielder Monday played for the Dodgers in 1977-1984.
Both Garvey and Monday won the World Series with the Dodgers in 1981.
Houston struck early in the top of the first inning off of starter Yu Darvish.
George Springer led off the game with a double, then scored when first baseman Cody Bellinger made a throwing error on a grounder by Alex Bregman, who ended up on second base.
Moments later, Bregman stole third base and scored on a grounder to Bellinger by José Altuve.
Another groundout and a flyout followed, but Houston had taken a quick 2-0 lead.
The inning ended with a flyout from Yulieski Gurriel, who was booed loudly by the Dodger-fans during his at bat.
In the third game, after having hit a homerun, the Cuban had made an offensive gesture towards Darvish and received a 5-game suspension for the start of the 2018 season.
Gurriel apologized for his action and when he stepped into the batter's box tonight, he tipped his helmet towards Darvish.
Los Angeles also began its first at bat with a lead-off double, as Chris Taylor connected well off of starter Lance McCullers.
After striking out Corey Seager, McCullers hit Justin Turner with a pitch.
The righthander followed with another strikeout, this time for Cody Bellinger, but then also hit Yasiel Puig with a pitch, which loaded the bases.
The three runners stranded, as Joc Pederson (who hit three homeruns in this Series) grounded out, ending the inning.
As in Game 3, Yu Darvish was unable to pitch more than two innings.
Just as in the third game, the Japanese righthander needed to be relieved after only 1 2/3 inning.
When he left tonight, the Astros led 5-0!
In the top of the second inning, Darvish began with a walk for lead-off hitter Brian McCann, then gave up a double to Marwin Gonzalez.
The two were unable to advance on a grounder by Josh Reddick, but a run was then scored on a somewhat tougher grounder from pitcher Lance McCullers.
Gonzalez moved to third base and he then scored when George Springer homered to make it a 5- score.
That ended the evening for Darvish.
He was replaced by Brandon Morrow, who closed the inning by striking out Alex Bregman.
For Springer, it was his fifth homerun in the Series, which tied him for the most homeruns in a Series with Reggie Jackson (1977, New York Yankees) and Chase Utley (2009, Philadelphia Phillies).
It also was the 15th homerun for the Astros in this Series, which set a new record.
Before today, the Astros shared the record with the San Francisco Giants, who also hit 14 in 2002.
...Alex Bregman made some nice plays for Houston in the World...
...Series; On the photo, he plays for Team USA in the 2014...
...Haarlem Baseball Week in Haarlem (Netherlands)...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Los Angeles again got into scoring position in the bottom of the second inning, but was unable to score once more.
Logan Forsythe led off with a single and moved on a grounder.
Pinch-hitter Kiké Hernández was then hit by a pitch.
However, the inning ended when Chris Taylor lined into a double play.
In the top of the third inning, Clayton Kershaw took the mound for the Dodgers.
He was the starter last Sunday in the memorable Game 5, which was won by Houston with a 13-12 score in ten innings.
Kershaw then pitched 4 2/3 inning.
In his first inning tonight, he retired the side and closed with a strikeout for Yulieski Gurriel.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Dodgers got on base again and once more got a runner in scoring position.
This time, the home team got two baserunners with no outs.
Corey Seager led off with a single, then Justin Turner was hit by a pitch for the second time.
For Lance McCullers, it was the fourth time that he hit a batter.
After striking out Cody Bellinger, McCullers was replaced by Brad Peacock.
He got a flyout from Yasiel Puig, then struckout Joc Pederson to end the inning.
In the fourth, Kershaw again pitched well.
With one out, he gave up a single to Marwin Gonzalez, who moved on a wild pitrch, but then stranded on second base.
In the fifth, he retired the side and got two strikeouts.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Dodgers got another scoring opportunity.
But it became another frustrating inning, as two more runners were left behind.
With one out, Corey Seager walked and Justin Turner singled.
A pitching change followed and Francisco Liriano took over.
He got a force play-grounder from Cody Bellinger, but that gave the Dodgers also runners at the corners.
Hereafter, another pitching change was made and Chris Devenski took the mound to face Yasiel Puig.
The Cuban lined out to his countryman Yulieski Gurriel at first base to end the inning.
With that, the Dodgers now had left eight runners, four of them in scoring position.
And the team was 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position in the first five innings.
...Yulieski Gurriel hit 2 homeruns for Houston...
...in the World Series; On the photo, he hits for...
...Cuba in the 2009 World Championship...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the top of the sixth inning, Carlos Correa led off for Houston with a single off of Kershaw, who had retired nine of the ten batters he faced, including the last five in a row.
Correa moved to third base on two consecutive grounders, then following hitters Marwin Gonzalez and pinch-hitter Evan Gattis were both walked intentionally to load the bases.
Not only was a force play created by this, it also took the bat out of the hands of these powerhitters.
Besides that, with a chance to adding more runs, it forced Houston-Manager A.J. Hinch more or less to bring in a pinch-hitter for pitcher Chris Devenski (and bring in a new pitcher ).
Hinch brought in Cameron Maybin as pinch-hitter and the strategy worked for the Dodgers, as he popped out to end the inning, leaving three runners behind.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Dodgers were finally able to score a run.
Charlie Morton became the new pitcher for Houston and saw the first two batters reach base.
Joc Pederson led off with a single and Logan Forsythe walked.
An infield-fly followed, meaning the team was now 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
But hereafter, pinch-hitter Andre Ethier (hitting for Kershaw) singled to bring in Pederson and make it a 5-1 score.
However, the offensive struggle continued, as the next two hitters were retired.
As Kershaw was now out of the game, it was Kenley Jansen who took the mound for the Dodgers in the top of the seventh.
And that is an early appearance for the Curaçao-righthander, who normally enters the game in the ninth and sometimes in the eighth.
Jansen retired the first two hitters, but then walked José Altuve, who stole second base moments later.
The Venezuelan stranded on second base, as a pop-up behind the infield ended the at bat.
In the bottom of the seventh and eighth inning, Morton retired the Dodger-side.
In the seventh, that included the third strikeout tonight for Cody Bellinger, which was his 29th time in this postseason, which set a new record.
Before the game, it was Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, who had set a new record this postseason when he struckout 27 times.
The Yankee-rightfielder struckout 27 times in 48 at bats in 13 games, Belllinger now had struckout 29 times in 64 at bats in 15 games.
Alex Wood took over from Kenley Jansen in the top of the eighth and retired the side in both the eighth and the ninth.
The Dodgers got their final chance in the bottom of the ninth.
Charlie Morton returned to the mound for the Astros.
The righthander, who threw very strong, began with a strikeout.
A grounder followed, then Corey Seager hit a hard grounder to second baseman José Altuve that ended the game.
Morton retired the side for the third consecutive inning, had retired the last eleven hitters in a row and became the winning pitcher.
And then ended another long drought, as the Houston Astros won its first Championship-title in its 56-year history.
Last year, Chicago Cubs won its first title in 108 years!
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Houston wins Game 7 to win first World Series-title in history!
LOS ANGELES, California (USA) -
Houston Astros is the 2017 Major League-champion!
On Wednesday-evening (November 1), the Astros won 5-1 against Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 of the 113th World Series to win the Championship Final, 4-3.
For Houston, this was its first-ever title in its 56-year history!
In August, the Houston-area was hit hard by Hurricane Harvey.
The team worked hard to help and support the victims and the community and played with a special patch on their uniform with the word 'Strong'.
It stimulated the team even more to win the Championship-title.
Los Angeles won the opener a week ago with a 3-1 score, thanks to a 2-run homerun by Justin Turner.
The next day, Houston recorded a hard-fought 7-6 win in eleven innings, a game that featured a record-setting total of eight homeruns.
George Springer hit the most important fourbagger, as it gave Houston the lead (again) in the eleventh inning.
Houston then took a 2-1 lead on Friday by winning Game 3 with a 5-3 score.
On Saturday, Los Angeles rallied for five runs in the top of the ninth inning to win 6-2 and even the Series at 2-2.
The Astros struck early, scoring five runs in the first two innings off of starter Yu Darvish.
In the second inning, George Springer hit a 2-run homerun to make it a 5-0 score.
Afterwards, he received Most Valuable Player Award of the Series, which for the first time was named after legendary Willie Mays.
Coincidentally, both Mays and Springer are centerfielder.
After the second inning, the Dodger-pitching did very well and held Houston scoreless in the remainder of the game.
The Astros-pitching was great the entire game, but especially Charlie Morton, who closed the game, threw four strong innings and was credited with the win.
While the Dodgers outhit the Astros 6-5, the deciding basehit failed to come.
The team left ten runners behind, including five in scoring position and batted 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
