Well, the Astros made it plenty interesting, but they managed to finally knock the Yankees off in a series where the home team won each of the 7 games. I didn't get to watch Game 7 since I am stuck in some barracks without internet for a month-long course. I'll probably miss the World Series, too, but I guess that's the price you pay for career advancement. I hope the Astros can pull it off, but the Dodgers are a formidable opponent.
One major key to the Astros' success is their little second baseman, Jose Altuve. A huge portion of their offense runs through him and his bat. Although I mentioned his small statue above, I got pretty tired of the TV broadcasts mentioning the size difference between Altuve and Aaron Judge, along with shots of them standing next to each other.
When MLB did their Player's Weekend promotion, Topps released team sets to commemorate the event. Part of the promotion was that players were allowed to wear nicknames on their jerseys, and the Topps' Player's Weekend sets show the nickname jerseys on the back of each card.
Most nicknames are some variation of the player's real name, which makes sense. I go by a shortened version of my last name in most circles, because some people have a hard time pronouncing it.
I guess the Astros' uniforms for this special weekend were all right, but I'm glad this isn't their regular color scheme. I thought this was a reused photo of Reddick, but it's not. This is just the standard Josh Reddick photo pose.
I was pretty happy with the player selection for this set, as Josh Reddick and Evan Gattis both got cards. They aren't exactly the stars or hot rookies on the team, so they don't always get included in these things.
Part of the draw for these sets was that if the team had a 6-game win streak after the All-Star break, you got a bonus card. The Astros had two streaks, so I got two extra cards. The first card celebrates Cameron Maybin and Justin Verlander helping the team get to six in a row.
The second card pictures Brad Peacock and Yulieski Gurriel. Pretty cool stuff. I don't know if I'll buy as many Topps Now cards in 2018 as I did this year. Keeping up with these extra sets and the Astros' playoff Now cards is hard to do. Topps released nine cards for the team's Game 7 ALCS win! If the World Series is this card crazy, I might have to give up.
If I were a betting man, I'd say the odds are against the Astros. But I didn't think they'd be able to beat the Yankees twice in Houston and I was wrong. Hopefully Altuve and company will be able to produce some runs early against the Dodgers. If not, they're in trouble because that bullpen has been lights out.
ReplyDeleteWell, they managed to knock that bullpen around a bit, but now they have to win two out of three, with the Dodgers holding the home-field advantage. It's shaping up as a great World Series either way, but I hope it ends with the Astros on top.
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