The 2022 World Series was a hard fought matchup between the Houston Astros and the Philadelphia Phillies. This is Houston’s sixth straight trip to the series, having won the American League championships for each of the past six years. It is amazing not only that the Astros have been so consistent, but that they have been so consistent while changing up their roster over those years. The Phillies, on the other hand, have not made a World Series appearance since 2009 and at the beginning of this season no one would have picked the Phillies as a contender. In early June the Phillies had a win/loss ratio of 22 to 29 and manager Joe Girardi was cut, leaving bench coach Rob Thomson to pilot the team. From that point the Phillies turned into winners, taking almost 60% of the remaining regular season games to clinch the spot in postseason play. From there they took down all their National League rivals, including the 2021 World Series winning Atlanta Braves.
In their initial outing on October 28, the Phillies were down by five runs in the third inning, a deficit that no team had come back from in the past 20 years. In the fourth and fifth innings the Astros gave up five runs for a tie game, with Phillies catcher, J.T. Realmuto, hitting a double to bring in the tying runs. This score held until the teams went into extra inning. Then Realmuto showed the game was his by hitting a solo home run that the Astros could not match and the game went to the Phillies. After the first game, it was tit-for-tat for the next few matches, with the Astros taking the second game (5-2). Instrumental in this Astros win were Jose Altuve and rookie Jeremy Peña, each hitting a run scoring double. The Phillies took the third game in a 7-0 shutout. From there on the Astros showed their dominance, winning three straight (5-0, 3-2, 4-1) to take the Series in six games, with Jeremy Peña a standout player in games five and six.
The Phillies showed their appreciation to Rob Thomson by signing him to a two year deal as their manager. For his contribution to the Astros win, rookie Jeremy Peña was named MVP (most valuable player). He is only the third rookie to win this title.
