Both World Series rosters are loaded with star power, and this clash between the Phillies and Astros promises to be a lot of fun, no matter what the regular-season records look like.
So, for fun, we decided to take a shot at ranking the players in the World Series. The first thing we found was this: Players ranked outside the top 10 are still outstanding, All-Star level players, because, as we said, both rosters are loaded with talent.
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We’re grouping them in pods of five, because the idea of splitting hairs between the 31st-ranked player and the 35th-ranked player takes the fun out of it, quite honestly. The ranking is subjective, of course, taking into account the player’s talent level, the production both during the regular season and postseason and how much of an impact they should make in the World Series. For example, is Seranthony Domínguez a better pitcher than Bryan Abreu? Not sure, but Dominguez likely will get more important (later) innings than Abreu, so he’s higher on the list. Make sense? Not perfect, I know, but this is for fun.
Also, because World Series rosters haven’t been announced yet, we’re using LCS rosters, which should be very similar.
Pod 1
DH Bryce Harper
3B Alex Bregman
SP Zack Wheeler
SP Justin Verlander
C J.T. Realmuto
Honestly, you could make a very compelling argument for any of these players to be in the No. 1 spot. Technically, we’re doing groupings so there isn’t a No. 1, but Harper is the best player in this series, even as the Phillies’ DH. In Philadelphia’s 11 games, he has five homers, 11 RBIs, 10 runs scored, a .444 on-base percentage and 1.351 OPS. And his knack for coming up with huge extra-base hits in huge moments has been amazing. If you’re the Phillies, the one Astros player you don’t want at the plate in a key situation is Bregman, who produced identical .333/.375/.600 slash lines in both the ALDS and ALCS, with seven total RBIs in the seven games. Oh, and how good is that Game 1 starting pitching matchup with Wheeler vs. Verlander? Stellar.
Pod 2
LF Yordan Alvarez
SP Framber Valdez
SP Aaron Nola
RP Ryan Pressly
2B Jose Altuve
Speaking of huge moments, no player has had a better — or more important — game this postseason than Alvarez in Game 1 of the ALDS vs. the Mariners. It’s not just the three-run walk-off homer he hit with two outs in the ninth inning (though that was epic), it’s the two-out, two-run double he hit in the bottom of the third inning that cut Seattle’s 4-0 lead in half. Without that hit, the ninth-inning heroics don’t happen. He’s batting just .143 in his past five games, though. Nola was roughed up a bit in his ALCS start, but I’m not sure people realize quite how good he was in the regular season, with an NL-best 8.10 K/BB ratio and FIP (2.58) that was significantly lower than his ERA (3.25). Altuve just feels like he’s saving ALL of his October moments for the World Series, doesn’t he?
Pod 3
SS Jeremy Peña
RF Kyle Tucker
RP José Alvarado
RP Seranthony Domínguez
LF Kyle Schwarber
Every postseason has a breakout star, and so far it’s Jeremy Pena, who started the playoffs getting on base in front of Alvarez and Bregman and has started just clearing the bases himself, with three home runs in seven games. If the Phillies are going to win the World Series, they’re going to need Alvarado and Dominguez at their peak performance, missing bats and making hitters look silly. That’s not easy to do against these Astros hitters. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if Kyle Schwarber has just four or five hits in the series, but three of them are homers. Too much all-or-nothing to rank any higher, especially with his tendency to swing and miss and Astros pitchers’ ability to get swings and misses.
Pod 4
SP Lance McCullers Jr.
RP Rafael Montero
SP Cristian Javier
RP Ryne Stanek
1B Rhys Hoskins
McCullers should be higher. He’ll get the starting assignment on the road, and if he’s on, he has the nasty stuff to carve up the Phillies lineup and keep the Philly crowd at bay. If homer-happy Rhys Hoskins shows up like he did in the NLCS, the Phillies have a great chance. If he’s streaky the other way, like he was the first four games in October, the Phillies are in big trouble. That three lights-out pitchers such as Montero, Javier and Stanek are this low speaks volumes as to how good Houston’s pitching is.
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Pod 5
RF Nick Castellanos
SP Ranger Suárez
RP Bryan Abreu
RP Héctor Neris
2B Jean Segura
Sheesh. Abreu and Neris down here, too. It’s no wonder the Yankees struck out a million times in the ALCS. After a rough season, Castellanos is doing the things the Phillies wanted/expected when they signed him as a free agent. It’s not just the power, but the contact, and that’ll be key vs. Houston’s pitching. Segura has been outstanding in the postseason, and his ability to make contact and put the ball in play could be a huge factor.
Pod 6
3B Alec Bohm
1B Yuli Gurriel
SS Bryson Stott
CF Chas McCormick
RP David Robertson
Gurriel loves October, doesn’t he? He struggled in the regular season, with just eight homers and a .647 OPS, but has a .933 OPS in October, with a pair of homers. The emergence of both Bohm and Stott is a big reason Philly’s made it this far. Having Robertson back after he missed the ALDS is big.
Pod 7
CF Brandon Marsh
C Martín Maldonado
SP/RP Luis Garcia
RP Noah Syndergaard
RP Zach Eflin
All three pitchers here have the ability to go multiple innings, and that figures to be more important for the Phillies, the team with a rotation not nearly as deep as Houston’s. Maldonado struggles at the plate, but still somehow seems to come up with big moments in the postseason. Remember the two-out double in Game 1 that tied the score, 1-1? Or the four RBIs in last year’s World Series?
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Pod 8
C Christian Vázquez
RP Connor Brogdon
RP Hunter Brown
RP José Urquidy
UTIL Edmundo Sosa
Urquidy and Brown would be important pieces on the Philadelphia staff, but they’re basically “break in case of emergency” parts of Houston’s equation. Brogdon was an unsung NLCS hero for the Phillies; without his 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief after Bailey Falter faltered and couldn’t get out of the first inning, the Phillies probably don’t wind up winning that game and then who knows what might have happened in the series.
Pod 9
CF Matt Vierling
DH Trey Mancini
UTIL Aledmys Díaz
RP/SP Bailey Falter
RP Brad Hand
Mancini was supposed to be a key trade pickup for the Astros, but he struggled down the stretch and is 0-for-13 in October thus far. What will the Phillies get out of Falter? There’s a reason they gave the talented youngster the Game 4 start in the NLCS, but he was knocked around and we’ll see what his role is for the World Series.
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Pod 10
RP Seth Martinez
RP Andrew Bellatti
RP Kyle Gibson
UTIL Mauricio Dubón
C Garrett Stubbs
UTIL David Hensley
OF Dalton Guthrie
Every roster spot in the World Series is important, truly. These guys won’t have huge roles in the primary game plan, but they’ll be counted on to do their job if/when they get an opportunity.
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