The 2017 World Series kicked off recently between the Los Angeles Dodgers (National League) and the Houston Astros (American League). The Dodgers (104-58) claimed the best regular season record in baseball after an astounding stretch where they won 43 games while losing only 7. LA’s lineup is stacked and is a pitching juggernaut. The Astros (101-61) shot out of the gate and virtually had their playoff spot assured in June thanks to an offense that lead the American League in several prominent offensive statistics (MLB.com). The Astros’ lineup and pitching isn’t far behind the Dodger’s, if at all.

Similar to the 2016 World Series between the Indians and the Cubs, both teams face championship droughts. The Dodgers have failed to win it all since 1988, and the Astros remain one of few MLB teams to have never won a championship in their fifty plus years of existence, only having one other appearance. The Cubs ended their championship drought last year, who will end their drought this year?

Both teams are incredibly talented and matched at most positions. According to the projections website FiveThirtyEight, the Dodgers have a 55% chance of defeating the Astros. David Schoenfield, a senior writer at ESPN predicted the Dodgers would win it all because of an outstanding bullpen, but fellow ESPN writer Sarah Langs believed the Astros claim victory because momentum is on their side. Bob Jones Baseball pitching coach Hunter Smothers agreed with Schoenfield; the Dodgers have the edge in the bullpen. In a Google Forms survey of fifteen Bob Jones students, seventy percent answered that they would want the Dodgers to win, and ninety percent answered they thought the Dodgers will win.

Game One of the World Series was tightly played in the hottest Game One on record, with the Dodges edging the Astros three to one. Clayton Kershaw struck out eleven Astros while achieving his first career World Series win, the only blemish being a solo homer to third baseman Alex Bregmen. Astros starter Dallas Keuchel matched Kershaw for the majority of the game, only giving up a leadoff solo homer to centerfielder Chris Taylor until a poorly placed fastball to Justin Turner disappeared over the left field fence for a two-run home run to put the Dodgers up by two. That would complete the scoring as Kenley Jansen and the Dodger’s much-praised bullpen locked the game down.

Game Two started out much the same, with the Dodgers carrying a 3-1 lead into the ninth inning. Corey Seager and Joc Pederson homered for the Dodgers to put up the three runs off of Justin Verlander. However, the ninth inning was very different than the previous game. Kenley Jansen was unable to lock down the inning and the Astros tied it up at three, courtesy of yet another solo homer, that time by Marwin Gonzalez. The game would go to the tenth, where the Astros would hit back-to-back homers to take a five to three lead. The Dodgers, not ones to go away, scored another pair of runs to tie the game again. The Astros would score, yet again, a pair of runs on a George Springer two-run homer to retake the lead in the top of the eleventh and the Dodgers failed to tie once more in the bottom half. The final score was seven to six, Astros, in what some are already calling one of the best games ever.

The 2017 World Series is already off to an explosive start, and with the series heading back to Houston for games three through five with the series tied at 1-1, anything can happen.