Are the Nolas Rooting for Austin’s Padres or Aaron’s Phillies in the NLCS?
As the 2012 Houston Astros and 2012 Texas Rangers prepare to meet at Minute Maid Park to decide which team will become the 24th major-league representative in the 2013 World Series, the odds have long favored the Houston Astros. It seems that everyone likes them, and they are by far the best team in baseball. The Rangers have traditionally had a weak lineup to begin the season, and it’s hard to make a compelling argument for them to be favored in this World Series game by game against Houston.
Houston, by contrast, is a well-oiled machine that has not looked likely to be beaten since the 2011 playoffs, when they swept the Dodgers. But their lineup is also weak, and the Astros were outmatched in the series against Texas.
This article will explore why the 2012 Los Angeles Dodgers and 2012 Los Angeles Angels teams are also favored in the World Series. Because they are so competitive throughout the regular season, the odds of these two teams beating the Los Angeles Astros in this World Series is higher than the odds of either the 2013 Houston Astros or the 2013 Texas Rangers beating the Los Angeles Dodgers. The reasons to be optimistic are multiple. First, the Dodgers have two of the strongest, most talented starting pitchers in the history of the game in Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. They also have two of the best hitters in baseball, Kershaw and Manny Ramirez, a third-best hitter in Los Angeles baseball history in Albert Pujols, and a fourth-best hitter in baseball history in Alex Rodriguez.
The Angels, by contrast, have their two top hitters, Josh Beckett and Mark Trumbo, and their most interesting acquisition of the off-season, Mike Trout. The Angels also have two of the best pitching prospects in baseball in Chris Heston and Sean O’Sullivan.
The 2012 Astros
Houston’s strengths are their pitching and their bullpen. Both are extremely good. The strength of the bullpen, however, is somewhat weaker than the bullpen of the Rangers in the early part of the 2012 season.
The Astros’ starting rotation is as good as any I’ve seen in any major-league