The MLB World Series is finally upon us and we're already pushing through an amazing series between the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies.
With the series tied at 1-1 so far, the teams head into game 3 in Philadelphia at the Citizens Bank Park, looking to gain a major advantage in the series and really halt the momentum of their opposition and take a giant step towards being crowned world champions for 2022.
We'll take a quick look at game 3 and both teams, before providing you with our best free MLB picks to see if we can earn you some extra cash for the holiday season.
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Houston vs Philadelphia Game 3 information
- Monday, October 31st, 2022
- Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 20:03 ET
- Live on FOX
Philadelphia Phillies season so far
The Phillies had a very clear beginning, middle and end of their season this year but they're seemingly peaking at the right time to make a real run at becoming champions of the world.
They opened the season in April with an 11-11 record, losing six of their first ten and going on a run that included a run of eight losses in ten midway through the month. Then May was horrid and they lost five of their first six and seven of their last eight to go 10-18 for the month.
June was a big turning point in their season as they went 19-8, winning ten of their first 11 of the month and then followed that up by going 15-10 in July and 18-11 in August for a total record of 52-29 over the summer months.
September saw them go 11-14, with ten defeats in their final 14 games of the month before closing out the regular season by going 3-3 on the road in October. That gave them a regular season record of 87-75 as they placed third in the National League East behind the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets.
The Wild Card series saw them ease past the St Louis Cardinals with a 6-3 and 2-0 win, before a division series against the Atlanta Braves saw them take a 3-1 win series with a 7-6, 9-1 and 8-3 win in games 1, 3 and 4.
They then dominated the Padres with a 4-1 series win, winning game 1 2-0, game 3 4-2, game 4 10-6 and game 5 4-3 to make it to the World Series.
Game 1 went their way against the Astros, winning 6-5, but last time out they were well beaten 5-2 to go into this game all tied up.
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Houston Astros season so far
Houston started the season with a very hit and miss record, going 11-10 in April including four game winning and losing streaks.
In May they stormed off to a 21-8 record for the month, including a stunning 11 game winning streak before alternating wins and losses in each of their next eight games.
They went 35-18 across June and July, before an impressive run of 17-11 in August saw them fire ahead in the standings in the American League West to really assert their dominance on the rest of the division.
They then clinched their playoff berth in the middle of September as they went 18-8, before a win over the Rays three days later saw them clinch the division.
The Astros finished the season going 4-1 in October, to end the regular season with an overall record of 106-56.
Their playoff run couldn't have gone much smoother either, as they whitewashed both the Seattle Mariners (3-0) and the New York Yankees (4-0) in the AL division series and the championship series, before they lost their first game in the series against the Phillies last time out.
MLB Pick: Houston to win Game 3
The Phillies will send Syndergaard to the mound for Game 3. The right-hander has not pitched since Game 4 of the NLCS when he allowed one run over three innings against the San Diego Padres.
It is expected that the 30-year-old will only be allowed to face the Astros lineup once through, limiting Syndergaard to two or three frames. After that, the Phillies will need to depend on their bullpen to provide some quality innings.
No Astros hitter has compiled more than six at-bats against the Philadelphia right-hander, with the core of Jose Altuve, Jeremy Peña, Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez, Yuli Gurriel, Trey Mancini, and Alex Bregman going a combined 2-for-20. It is a minimal sample size for each player though, so I would take the data with a grain of salt.
On the other side, McCullers has a career 2.77 ERA in the postseason. At the same time, the current Phillies lineup is batting .214 against the 29-year-old with a less-than-impressive .576 OPS.
It should be noted that the Phillies have yet to lose a playoff game at home this year, but the Astros are an experienced team that is unlikely to be phased by the raucous crowd. Therefore, I expect Houston to take advantage of this hybrid bullpen game from Philadelphia and chip away on the scoreboard, leading to a Game 3 victory.
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