World Series – Game 3 – Minute Maid Park – Houston, TX
First pitch: Friday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: Los Angeles +105, Houston -115, Total: 8.5

The Astros will be trying to take a 2-1 series lead with a victory in Game 3 on Friday.

The World Series is heading to Texas, where the Astros will be attempting to take their first lead in this series. Houston was on the brink of a 2-0 deficit last game, but the team was able to come back from 3-1 to win a 7-6 extra inning thriller on Wednesday. There were so many homers hit in the game that Astros pitcher Dallas Keuchel openly complained that the league is juicing the balls. It’ll be interesting to see how that affects the total, as this game could go Over if something actually is being done to them. But that’s a hard angle to play when looking at this game. If you are looking for an interesting one then perhaps keep in mind that home plate umpire Gerry Davis is 51-36 Under over the past three seasons, and 18-10 Under this year. The starters in this one are RHP Yu Darvish (2-0, 1.59 ERA, 14 K) for Los Angeles and RHP Charlie Morton (1-1, 6.23 ER, 14 K) for Houston. One trend that favors the Dodgers to win this game is the fact that they are 44-19 against the money line versus teams that average 1.25 or more homers per game under manager Dave Roberts. Roberts is, however, a lousy 20-32 against the money line on the road when the line is +125 to -125 with Los Angeles.

The Dodgers are going to be upset over the way things ended on Wednesday, but this is the World Series and they can’t let things linger on. They need to find a way to get their energy up and pull it together, as they can’t afford to not show up in Houston. The starter in this game is Darvish, who is very familiar with the Astros from his time with the Rangers. In two starts against the team this season, Darvish allowed four earned runs over 12.0 innings of work. He struck out 12 batters in those two outings and will be hoping to put forth a similar effort here. If he can allow just two earned runs over six then he will have done his job. On offense, Justin Turner has been the Dodgers’ best hitter over the past few weeks. He has hit four homers and racked up 14 RBI in the playoffs and he’ll need to continue to play well moving forward. SS Corey Seager hit a homer last game and he should also be able to give the Dodgers a jolt when needed. He has not looked too bad since returning from a back injury, which makes this Los Angeles lineup incredibly dangerous.

The Astros are coming off of an insane victory over the Dodgers and should be feeling great heading into this one. The series is now tilted in their favor, as Houston has the home-field advantage moving forward. The starter in this Game 3 is going to be Morton, who also happens to be brimming with confidence entering this one. Morton pitched five shutout innings against the Yankees in Game 7 just about a week ago, so he is not going to buckle under the pressure here. That was as tough of a situation as a pitcher can face, so one can expect him to be rock solid here. As for Houston’s offense, all of the bats woke up against the Dodgers on Wednesday. OF George Springer, SS Carlos Correa and 2B Jose Altuve all homered in that game. All three are extremely dangerous at the plate, and you can count on at least one of them stepping it up here.