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Dodgers host Astros in epic Game 7 Wednesday
By: Staff Writer - StatFox
Published: 11/1/2017  at  11:30:00 AM
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HOUSTON ASTROS (111-68)

at LOS ANGELES DODGERS (114-62)

World Series – Game 7 – Dodger Stadium – Los Angeles, CA
First pitch: Wednesday, 8:15 p.m. ET
Line: Houston +135, Los Angeles -145, Total: 7.5

The entire season will be on the line when the Astros face the Dodgers in Game 7 on Wednesday.

Houston had a chance to win the series in Los Angeles on Tuesday, but the team’s bats did not show up in that one. The Astros lost that game 3-1 and they obviously know that it will take more than that to win this one. The Dodgers, meanwhile, are going to have a lot of momentum when they take the field here. Their crowd should be going nuts and the team already fought off elimination. That should give them some serious confidence on Wednesday. Another thing that should give the Dodgers a little edge is the fact that they’ll have RHP Yu Darvish (2-1, 4.15 ERA, 14 K) on the mound against the inexperienced RHP Lance McCullers (1-0, 2.95 ERA, 16 K). Darvish has been worse than McCullers in this postseason, but he has still been an ace for most of his career and McCullers is capable of being very off on any given night. He also happens to be only 24 years old and pitching in the biggest game imaginable. One trend that favors Houston when looking at this one is the fact that the team is 16-5 against the money line over the past two seasons when playing a road game after scoring one or fewer runs in their previous contest. The Dodgers, however, are a ridiculous 29-6 against the money line in home games after allowing two or fewer runs this season.

The Astros are going to be upset with the fact that they blew a chance to win this series, but they have to forget about that and do their best on Wednesday. They still have another chance to win it all, but they’re facing elimination this time. This is when your best players need to rise to the occasion, so expect 2B Jose Altuve, SS Carlos Correa and OF George Springer to all be locked in here. Altuve is the one that will absolutely need to come through in this game, as he has been the Houston MVP for the course of the entire year. If he doesn’t play well here then it’s hard to imagine the Astros winning this one on the road. The team will also need an unlikely player or two to come through in this one. It’s not always the stars that win it for you in a Game 7, so it’ll be interesting to see if somebody can provide a spark for the Astros. The team will certainly need a lot from McCullers in this one. The righty has absolutely filthy stuff, but he is also capable of getting lost on the mound. If his control isn’t on point then it’s possible that the Dodgers will absolutely blow them out here. It’s also worth noting that LHP Dallas Keuchel will probably be available to pitch in this game. You should expect to see him for two or so innings here.

The Dodgers were able to keep the series alive on Tuesday and they’re now a strong favorite to win the World Series. Unfortunately that doesn’t mean much in a Game 7, so the Dodgers still need to show the same effort they did in Game 6. They might be a game away from winning, but their backs are also still against the wall. Yu Darvish is going to really need to come through for Los Angeles in this one, and he did not look good in his last outing. Darvish allowed four earned runs in 1.2 innings of work in Game 3, which is something that absolutely can’t happen again on Wednesday. The righty had pitched well in each of his previous two starts in the postseason, allowing a total of two earned runs in 11.1 innings of work. If he can be more like that guy then the team would be ecstatic. But it’s worth noting that the Dodgers could turn to LHP Clayton Kershaw in this game. The lefty has had a few days to rest, so he is capable of going two or three innings in this one. Los Angeles knows that he is an option that they will likely need to use. And on offense, keep an eye on the usual suspects like 1B Cody Bellinger, 3B Justin Turner and SS Corey Seager. But also watch out for OF Joc Pederson, who is scorching hot in the World Series. He has three homers and five RBI heading into this one and has provided a major spark for the Dodgers.


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