Phillies v Astros MLB World Series predictions & best bets

After a long seven months of baseball, all but two teams have been eliminated from the 2022 MLB season – the Philadelphia Phillies and the Houston Astros. The World Series is finally here and we have a phenomenal matchup yet again.

The sixth-seed Phillies will head to Houston for game one of the 2022 World Series to face the team that let them into the postseason back on October 3. This series has the second-largest gap between regular-season wins in World Series history, as the Phillies won only 87 games this season and the Astros 106.

The Phillies have had the definition of a rollercoaster season. They fired Joe Girardi after a horrendous 22-29 start and then promoted their bench coach, Rob Thomson, to interim manager. The rest, including this surreal run, is history. The Phillies went on to finish the regular season with a 65-46 record under Thomson and clinch their first postseason berth since 2011 with a win against these same Houston Astros. The Phillies agreed to a well deserved two-year deal with Thomson two weeks ago, officially removing the interim tag from his title.

Since the postseason started, the Phillies have been able to pull off upset after upset, starting with the St. Louis Cardinals, then beating the defending-champion Atlanta Braves in four games, and finally the San Diego Padres in five games. The lowly 87-win Phillies have only lost two games in the postseason and find themselves four wins from their first World Series title since 2008.

The only issue for the Phillies is that the four wins that stand in the way of them and a World Series victory will have to come against the best team in the MLB. The Astros are Goliath in this storybook World Series. They have been to the big dance four times in the last five seasons and surely have the edge in the experience column.

• Best baseball betting sites in 2022

The Astros have yet to lose a game this postseason, having swept both the Mariners and the Yankees. Indeed, the last team to beat these Astros was the Phillies when they clinched their postseason berth. They are the second team in history to have a collective ERA below 3.00, and not only do they have one of the most dominant starting rotations in the MLB, they have found a way to make sure their bullpen is even better.

It is truly unbelievable what the Astros have been able to do, and yet they have only one World Series title in four appearances. For as great as the Astros have been over the last five years, they have struggled to perform at home in the biggest series of the year. It is also worth noting that the last two teams to beat the Astros in the World Series were from the National League East – the Washington Nationals in 2019 and the Atlanta Braves last year.

How poetic would it be for the Phillies to win this series against the team that let them in? They are a living, breathing example of the phrase, “Once you get in, anything can happen.” No one would’ve predicted that we would be talking about a World Series that included the Philadelphia Phillies, but here we are. America and Philadelphia love the underdog, and this is the ultimate underdog story happening right before our eyes. Believe it or not, we are going to pick the Phillies to win in six games.

We expect this to be a hard-fought series between two teams playing their best baseball heading into November. The Phillies have come through three playoff series now and have found a way to look dominant against teams that are much better than them on paper. We believe that Philadelphia’s advantage at home in front of the best fans in the world, paired with the Astros’ struggles at Minute Maid Park will be the deciding factors in this series.

More sports betting picks