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The 2021 World Series between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros is knotted at a game apiece as it heads to Atlanta for Friday’s Game 3.
What have we learned so far in the Series? What can we expect next? Has anything we’ve seen made us rethink our initial Fall Classic predictions?
We asked ESPN baseball experts Bradford Doolittle, Buster Olney, Jesse Rogers and David Schoenfield to answer some of the key questions.
What has surprised you most about this World Series through the first two games?
Doolittle: Charlie Morton’s Bob Gibson imitation was pretty surprising. There’s not been a lot of stuff that you’d consider totally off-script. The Astros have expanded the zone more than they usually do. Their chase rate over two games (39.1%) is way higher than their regular-season average and is way over the worst figure for any team during the regular season (Marlins, 31.0%). It’s only two games, but it’s worth watching, especially since it’s not just Jose Siri’s start driving up the number. Alex Bregman has a 50% chase rate and is still looking for his first hit, and Yuli Gurriel, Jose Altuve and Chase McCormick are also at 50% or higher. Nevertheless, a betting man would put his money on this not continuing.
Olney: Alex Bregman has always been one of the most confident players in baseball — for example, his self-confidence has been so strong that he wears No. 2 because he thought he should’ve been the No. 1 overall pick over Dansby Swanson. But he seems completely lost at the plate, feeling for the ball. That Teflon confidence is dented.
Rogers: I’m going to add more than just the first two games to this discussion as I’ve covered the Astros the whole postseason. They’ve played exactly one game decided by one run out of their 12 playoff games this month. Just one. And even that one got close with a ninth-inning home run. In fact every other game they’ve played — win or lose — has been decided by four or more runs. The first two games of this Series haven’t…
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Source : espn
