SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
By Arnie Leshin
Hang on Eagles, you’re still at the top perch of the National Football League. You remain the only undefeated team in the league and come off a bye weekend to tackle a disappointing state-rival Pittsburgh Steelers team that visits you Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field in the City of Brotherly Love. The early line Las Vegas odds have you heavily favored by a whooping 24 points.
Goody goody for you, and two nights before that in Houston, Texas, the other rising Philly team opens the World Series. The Astros, at 106-56, are not listed with the odds given to the Philadelphia Eagles, but they did figure on getting to the National Pastime’s biggest show, just didn’t think it would include a sweep over the New York Yankees.
The Phils, go figure? They ran third the entire season behind the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves in the National League East, and now at 87-75, no Mets, no Braves, just the Phillies. After firing manager Joe Geraldi and bringing in Johnson to take over at Citizens Bank Park nearby the football venue.
Now overall season records have brought together the two. Houston gets the home opener at Minute Maid Park in the best-of-seven. In the wild card best-of-three, the Phils took both on the road in St. Louis, the San Diego Padres took the needed two over the New York Mets in the borough of Queens, and carried it over to stun the 111-winning Los Angeles Dodgesrs in the best-of-five.
But they, too, were sent packing after losing four-of-five in the championship series.
So here they are, the Phils, and there they are, the Eagles. Neither have been on the big stage recently, but the Astros, with the best big-league record after the Dodgers were bounced, have at least hoisted the big and best trophy back in 2017. The Eagles did the same in 2015.
Houston got a first-round bye and watched the Seattle Mariners twice top the Toronto Blue Jays while the new-name Cleveland franchise did the same versus the Tampa Bay Rays. Then it was a sweep in three by the Astros over Seattle, the Yanks went six to oust Cleveland, and then came the brooms in a championship series sweep to set up the final two on the big stage.
But its NFL team has never done much, and here in last place at 1-4 in the AFC South is the hapless Houston program.
Now for the chase, and this is a whole lot harder call than it would have seemed a few weeks ago, The Astros spent all season proving that they remain an elite team in MLB, while the Phillies had a losing record in September/October to back their way into a postseason spot that would not have existed under the previous format. But it is easy to get swept up in the Philly swagger and story right now, and it should surprise exactly nobody if it puts a proper punctuation mark on its fun run.
Ultimately, though, we just can’t shake the quality of the Houston pitching depth and its experience on this particular stage. That would allow the Tros to finally overtake an NL East team in the Fall Classic after falling to the Washington Nationals in 2019 and the Braves last year. And if third time’s the charm, there’s nothing wrong with sticking with the Minute Maid fans who have cheered four of the last six AL pennants.
It’s early in the week, but how’s Houston in maybe six. It is best in most of the parings except it has been trying to figure out centerfield ever since George Springer left in free agency, while Philadelphia has been trying to figure out centerfield field for the better part of the last decade, just not as long ago as Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn in the early 60s.
Then there’s left field, long-ball hitter Phillies Kyle Schwarber versus Yordan Alvarez. Neither has won a Gold Glove, but both have game-changing power. Right field now has slugging Bryce Harper there or as the designated and he’s been injury free and the batter who has powered Philadelphia to where it is now. He is still better in the field than Nick Castellanos, and hits a ton better than rival Kyle Tucker, who is best with RBI gappers.
At first base, the Phils can call on a red-hot Rhys Hoskins finding the long ball stands and also playing stellar defense, while Astros long-timer Jose Altuve has slipped some in both departments after reigning as a potential Hall of Famer. At second, for the Phillies is veteran post-gamer Jean Segura, and he’s now a shortstop playing second base, but still gets the edge of the fielder from Houston.
Around at third the Astros feature Alex Bregman who hails from Albuquerque and came off sub-par 2020 and 2001 seasons to hit 23 home runs, 38 doubles and post a 366 on-base percentage. It’s Alex versus Alec, for the other side calls on mister Bohm who has improved defensively but needs to up his batting average, and his back-up is Edmundo Sosa, but neither is Bregman.
At short are two rookie starters, Philadelphia with young Bryson Stott improving at the plate after replacing Didi Gregorius, as well as coming up with big defensive plays, while Jeremy Pena has been one of the most impressive rookies after filling Carlos Correra’s big shoes with a league-average offensive output and reliable defense.
Behind the plate the Phils have gone with veteran J.T. Realmuto the hitter and the one with the big arm. But Houston has tried all season to squeeze some offense out of the position, and is still trying, but has no one better than Realmuto.
Designated hitter. With Harper soaring hot, he’s the best one in that place after returning from a broken left thumb, and hit the go-ahead deciding home run in the close contest against San Diego. Dusty Baker, one of the better managers still around, can not approach what Harper brings and has employed several DHs.
The starting pitching brought more hopes for the Phils as they avoided returning to San Diego. Now they have Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler, and can’t ignore Ranger Suarez, a big surprise in his 14 regular-season starts and also in the game 5 clincher. And Noah Syndergaard, a gift with Wheeler from the rival Mets, has pitched six recent innings, yielded only two hits, and struck out six while walking only one.
But the Astros can handily match them by highlighting future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander and a rising confident Framber Valdez in the first two games, and also call on Cristian Javier from the bullpen. In Game 3 against the Yankees, he pitched 5 and a-third scoreless innings and allowed only one hit
As the season moved along, Philadelphia has closed the gap against Houston, but it’s still three games before the World Series opener and the Astros still have the advantage, but maybe not as much.
And if the Liberty Bell city can ring in both world championships, that would be goody goody for both the Eagles and Phillies, except Houston can still bank on its post-season experience.
More to come as one Philly franchise takes the field some 3,000 miles away Friday and followed by the other Philly franchise on the Sunday East Coast NFL slate at home against fading Pitt.
