The Cycle, Issue 105: 2021 World Series Preview

Everything you need to know heading into the Fall Classic between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros

In this issue of The Cycle . . .

For the third straight year, we have a World Series matchup we’ve never seen before. The Atlanta Braves toppled the 106-win Dodgers in the NLCS to return to the Fall Classic for the first time in 22 years. Their opponent, the Houston Astros, didn’t win their first pennant until six years after the Braves’ last, but are now in the World Series for the third time on the last five years. Both teams have won just one championship since the Astros came into existence in 1962. The lone Atlanta Braves title came more than a quarter of a century ago, back in 1995, and the Astros’ lone World Series win, in 2017, was tainted by that team’s illegal sign-stealing.

Those are the top-line storylines. The rest of this issue digs deeper into the two team’s shared history and current rosters in an attempt to arm you with everything you need to know heading into this year’s World Series.

Note: all stats in the tables below are regular-season only.

2021 World Series

Atlanta Braves (88-73) vs. Houston Astros (95-67)

The Schedule

Games in italics if necessary

Their Last Meeting

Atlanta and Houston are just 700 miles apart, roughly a third of the shortest distance from the east coast to the west coast of the contiguous 48 states, but in an effort to balance the two leagues and their divisions in 2013, the Astros were moved from the National League Central to the American League West, while the Braves remained in the NL East (of course, from 1969 to 1993, both teams were in the NL West, which is a whole other thing). As a result, these two teams have not met, in a regular season or postseason game, in more than four years. That last contest came on July 5, 2017, in the middle of Houston’s only (and tainted) championship season.

The two teams played four games that year (the results are irrelevant to us now). Of the players who participated in those games, for both teams, only ten remain in one of these two organizations, and one of those ten, Atlanta’s Game 1 starter Charlie Morton, has switched teams. For the Braves, only Freddie Freeman, Dansby Swanson, reserve infielder Johan Camargo, and righty reliever Luke Jackson remain from those 2017 games. For the Astros, only the four infielders—Yuli Gurriel, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, and Alex Bregman—remain, though utility man Marwin González has returned to the organization and might be activated for this Series. He’d be the tenth of those 10 players if he is.

Among other things, this is a reminder that these Astros are largely not the cheaters of 2017. Even on a roster with González, 21 of the 26 men would not have been part of that team in 2017. Of the five who were, Altuve, according all available evidence and reporting, did not participate in the sign-stealing scheme. Even the manager and general manager, among other front-office personnel, have been replaced (though third-base coach Gary Pettis and pitching coach Brent Strom do remain from 2017).

I point this out, not an effort to excuse Gurriel, Correa, Bregman, and González (the last of whom was reportedly among the hitters who most often received stolen signs), nor Altuve from his failure to stop his teammates’ cheating (though that’s easier said than done), but it is a reminder that tarring the entire 2021 Astros team with the sins of 2017 is inaccurate and, thus, unfair.

How They Got Here

The Braves and Astros were the two losing teams in last year’s Championship Series, each falling just one game shy of the pennant. From that perspective, this World Series matchup shouldn’t have come as a huge surprise this year, but these two teams took two very different routes from last year’s LCS Games 7 to this year’s World Series Game 1.