There is a reason why the Astros and Braves won their divisions easily.

Both league championship series have had wild swings and one dramatic comeback, but it sure looks like the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves are headed for the World Series.

The Astros seemed in trouble after Boston won the second and third games of the ALCS, when the Red Sox outscored them 26-9 and had them on the ropes early in Game 4 at Fenway Park.

Then the Astros exploded and scored 15 unanswered runs from the eighth inning of Game 4 through the seventh inning of Game 5. Now they go back to Houston with a 3-2 lead and a rested pitching staff thanks to a record-setting performance by their Game 5 starter, who went 8 innings and gave up only one run and three hits to the once red-hot Red Sox.

Like the Sox, the Dodgers are the National League wild card survivor who looked positioned to defend their world championship after beating the San Francisco Giants in five games of the divisional round. But they lost the first two in Atlanta to the Braves, who are hitting and pitching best of all four remaining teams.

Back in LA, the Dodgers pulled off a stunning comeback in Game 3, rallying from a 5-2 eighth-inning deficit on a dramatic three-run homer by Cody Bellinger and a game-winning double by Mookie Betts. But despite the Braves having to scratch their scheduled starter in Game 4 for a bull-pen rotation, they slugged their way to a 9-2 win.

The daunting tasks facing the two marquee franchises are this.

The Red Sox must win both remaining games in Houston to reach their second World Series in four years. After bombing the ‘Stros with three grand-slam homers in their two big wins, the Boston bats have gone silent and the stratagems of ballyhooed manager Alex Cora are failing as his players falter.

The Dodgers have to win Game 5 at home to send the series back to Atlanta where, like the Astros, the Braves would hold a 3-2 lead. But the Bums certainly aren’t winning three in a row to get back to the Series.

Turns out the two wild card teams may have surprised us all early in the playoffs, but neither of them is moving on.

 

Photo via AP Photo/Charles Krupa

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