World Series Poll: Astros or Phillies?

With the World Series between the Astros and Phillies set to begin tonight in Houston, we have a fairly straightforward poll for you, Amazin’ Avenue readers: Which team would you rather see win the championship?

We brought up this topic shortly after the Mets were eliminated by the Padres in the Wild Card round of baseball’s newly-expanded playoffs. At the time, the Dodgers, Mariners, and Guardians led the pack, with the Astros coming in dead last among the remaining teams.

The Phillies are, of course, one of the Mets’ biggest rivals, and the Mets went 15-4 against them during the regular season. They looked like a clearly inferior team to the Mets and Braves, and yet, here they are. Their roster includes two former Mets of major significance in Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard, and they have one other former Met in Brad Hand.

The Astros are nearly five years removed from their 2017 World Series title, the infamous one that was later found to have been achieved at least in part through a sign-stealing system that has made most baseball fans permanently despise the organization. But the likes of Yordan Alvarez, Trey Mancini, and Dusty Baker still seem fairly easy to root for, even if you’d prefer to see the Astros’ longer-tenured players never win again.