It would be foolish to declare a best-of-seven series over after one game, but after seeing how the Astros handled the Yankees last night would you be surprised if they reached their fourth World Series in six years?

Houston, playing at home with a rest advantage over a New York team that didn’t get to town until early yesterday morning after beating the Guardians in the Bronx on Tuesday, won Game 1, 4–2. But it didn’t even really feel that close because for a long portion of the game, the Yankees were completely stifled on offense.

Astros starter Justin Verlander struggled early. After allowing a double to Giancarlo Stanton in the third, Verlander had thrown 57 pitches and gotten just seven outs. But he pitched his way out of that jam and showed why he’s the favorite to win the AL Cy Young. After Stanton’s double, the next 16 Yankees batters were retired in order—11 of them by Verlander.

The Yankees have problems (like continuing to give at bats to Matt Carpenter) but let’s not ignore how impressive the Astros have been. I don’t know who could have predicted that Houston, after losing key pieces like Zack Greinke and Carlos Correa in free agency and Michael Brantley to injury, would win 11 more games this year. Even Astros players are having a hard time explaining how they’ve managed to be so consistently dominant, Stephanie Apstein writes:

For a while, it was easy to attribute their success to the tear-down-and-rebuild strategy embraced by former general manager Jeff Luhnow. But the Astros have not picked earlier than 28th in the draft since 2017. For a while, it was easy to attribute their success to the illegal sign-stealing scheme they used on their way to their 2017 title. But it has been five years since MLB installed security guards to monitor the use of replay video.

For Astros haters, of whom there are many, this has to be exhausting. They were infuriating when they tanked. They were infuriating when they cheated. And they’re infuriating now that they just keep winning.

Unfortunately for MLB fans, the only thing standing between the Astros and another pennant is the Yankees. If that long-suffering underdog is going to return to the World Series for the first time since way back in 2009, they’ll have to make some adjustments.

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The first should be benching Carpenter, who struck out four times last night. His unlikely resurgence was one of the great Cinderella stories in baseball this season, but he’s turned into a pumpkin in October. Carpenter was among the worst hitters in baseball last season (with a .581 OPS), but he hit 15 homers in 47 games after the Yankees picked him up in the middle of this season. That run came to an end when he broke his foot in August. Did anyone really expect him to pick up where he left off after two months on the injured list? Expect Carpenter to be on the bench in Game 2 tonight, with Giancarlo Stanton moving back to DH and Oswaldo Cabrera in left. Will that be enough to give the Yankees the edge? No, but they need all the help they can get against a team as unstoppable as the Astros.

The best of Sports Illustrated

In today’s Daily Cover, Ross Dellenger goes behind the scenes of the College Football Playoff’s decision to expand:

SI spoke to various stakeholders as well as more than half of the 11 presidents who make up the CFP Board of Managers, the group that assumed control of the expansion issue and aggressively adopted the new Playoff. They describe a fascinating tale of secret meetings; a game-changing legal document delivered two weeks before the vote; a last-minute attempt to delay the process; and a man from Mississippi, of all places, responsible for forcing the change.

Juan Soto is rounding into form as the Padres beat the Phillies to tie the NLCS at a game apiece, Tom Verducci writes. … Jeremy Woo takes stock of the NBA’s race to the bottom as teams hope to land celebrated prospect Victor Wembanyama. … Here are our staff’s picks for this week’s NFL games. … The matchup between brothers Austin and Aaron Nola was one of the big story lines in Game 2 of the NLCS. Emma Baccellieri explored older brother Austin’s more difficult path to the majors. … After last week’s college football chaos, national championship game ticket reservations prices for one school rose 122%. Can you guess which school we’re talking about?

Around the sports world

Magic rookie Paolo Banchero lived up to the hype in his NBA debut. … Byron Perkins is the first HBCU football player to come out as gay. … Bears pass rusher Robert Quinn is reportedly on the trading block. … Tua Tagovailoa says he doesn’t remember parts of the night he was concussed. … Myles Turner missed the Pacers’ opener after a weird injury.

The top five...

… things I saw yesterday:

5. Russell Wilson’s quote about his hamstring injury.

4. Ja Morant’s would-be game-winner that was called a charge instead.

3. Luka Dončić’s slick footwork against Torrey Craig.

2. Damion Lee’s tough game-winner for the Suns and former teammate Stephen Curry’s reaction.

1. Aaron Judge’s diving catch to save at least one run.

SIQ

On this day in 1993, the Blue Jays won the highest-scoring World Series game in history over the Phillies, 15–14. How many home runs did Toronto hit?

Yesterday’s SIQ: In 2008, the Rays defeated the Red Sox to advance to their first World Series in franchise history, completing a remarkable one-season turnaround. How many games did Tampa Bay win in ’07?

Answer: 66. That was the worst record in the majors, making the Rays the second team in MLB history to win the pennant after finishing with MLB’s worst record in the previous season (joining the 1991 Braves).

Until that season, the Rays were consistently among the worst teams in baseball. During their first 10 seasons in existence, they went a combined 645–972. That’s a .399 winning percentage, worst in the majors during that period. Their previous best season was 70–91 in 2004.

But in 2008, the freshly rebranded Rays (they had been the Devil Rays until that year) turned things around in a major way. They won the AL East with a record of 97–65, tied for the second most wins in the majors. After beating the White Sox and Red Sox in the playoffs, they made it to the World Series. Here’s what Tom Verducci wrote in that week’s issue of SI:

The World Series will never be the same now that the Rays are in it, and it’s not just because the Faux Classic opens at Tropicana Field, the team’s ersatz ballpark, which has all the solemnity of a juke joint, with its catwalks, cowbells, aquarium, tank tops, flip-flops, fake grass, B-list celebrities (Rob Schneider? Dick Vitale?), leather recliner box seats and Taser-wielding security officers. No, the World Series is different because dues are no longer required. Anybody is welcome.

Though the Rays lost to the Phillies in the World Series in five games, their pennant ushered in a new era for baseball. Every team wanted a general manager like Tampa Bay’s Andrew Friedman, who managed to build a pennant-winning team with an average salary of $1.3 million. So-called “moneyball” hadn’t worked for the A’s insofar as them reaching a World Series, but it did for Friedman and the Rays. Friedman is now the president of baseball operations for the Dodgers and is one of several Tampa Bay front office alums—including the Astros’ James Click and Red Sox’ Chaim Bloom—currently running MLB teams.

From the Vault: Oct. 20, 1980

Before the 1980–81 NBA season, the Sonics pulled off a major trade, acquiring Paul Westphal from the Suns. Westphal was one of the league’s most consistent scorers, averaging at least 20 points per game in each of his five seasons in Phoenix. His new home was worth mentioning on the cover of SI’s NBA preview issue and, given that he was leaving the Valley of the Sun for gray Seattle, the magazine’s editors came up with the clever idea of having him pose with an umbrella. (The task of finding a company to make the custom umbrella in the Sonics’ colors fell to SI reporter Roy S. Johnson.)

Westphal isn’t the focus of the issue’s cover story, though. Instead, writer John Papanek chose to write about the sport of basketball more broadly:

[James] Naismith might have foreseen the likes of 6'8" Magic Johnson and 6'9" Larry Bird, who can turn the basic pass into something utterly wonderful. But it’s doubtful that he envisioned 240-pound power forwards or seven-foot centers. Or the play of Julius Erving, George Gervin, David Thompson and Marques Johnson, who have taken the game into the stratosphere and, in defiance of gravity’s law, kept it there. Or the shooting of guys like Paul Westphal, Downtown Freddie Brown and Lloyd (formerly “All-World,” now just “World”) Free, who launch impossibly graceful intercontinental missiles that score with frightening regularity. And no way did he imagine Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s sky hook or [Darryl] Dawkins’ funk dunks. All of which makes the good doctor's credentials as an inventor all the more imposing. He devised a game so flexible, so indulgent of individual artistry that it has flourished even when played by men whose talents Naismith never imagined.

The story’s headline, “A Chess Game Game With Soul,” comes from a quote from Westphal.

The best thing about basketball is that when you play right, no matter how good the opposing team is, there is always something you can do to affect the other guys’ game. If they’ve got a big guy, well, he might not be fast. If they’ve got a great shooter, he might not be able to pass or drive to his left. The challenge is to attack their weakness and protect your own. But amid all the teams’ moves and countermoves, there is still a chance for creativity, for the artistic talents of the individual to come through. It’s like a chess game, but a chess game with soul.

It’s a good line, and it inspired some great illustrations. Check out the story’s original magazine layout to see Magic Johnson, Julius Erving and others depicted as chess pieces.

Check out more of SI’s archives and historic images at vault.si.com.

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