MLB Bullets is underway

It’s good to see that Chris Taylor and Justin Turner aren’t just tormenting the Cubs.

• The 2017 World Series is underway and unlike most season, explains Neil Paine, it looks like the two best teams in baseball are playing in it.
• Tom Verducci believes that the Astros and Dodgers are two teams that best epitomize the modern state of the game.
• Michael Baumann explains why Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw and Astros pitcher Justin Verlander are the keys to their respective team’s chances. He also has a recap of the greatness of both players’ career.
• Ted Berg thinks the relatively light workload the Dodgers pitchers had in dispatching the Diamondbacks and Cubs gives their pitchers the advantage in the Series.
• Dallas Keuchel took the loss for the Astros last night, even though he didn’t pitch poorly, allowing three runs over 6⅔ innings of work. But Ben Lindbergh, writing before last night’s game, outlines why the Dodgers are a terrible matchup for Keuchel.
• Jeff Sullivan notes that the strike zone, as called by human umpires, tends to get larger in the playoffs and that should benefit the Dodgers.
• Emma Span gets a “rival scout” to give a scouting report on the Dodgers as well as a scouting report on the Astros.
• Charlie Blackmon gives the Astros some scouting reports on Kershaw. His final piece of advice? “Good luck.”
• Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will not start Kershaw on short rest in game 4 of the Series.
• Rhiannon Walker has a good profile of Roberts and the historic nature of him guiding the Dodgers to the World Series.
• The Dodgers beat the Astros in game 1 3-1 in the quickest World Series game since 1992.
• This article suffering from really bad timing. Erik Brady talks with people about pace-of-play issues and why playoff games last so long.
• Why did this game get over so quickly? Perhaps it was the 103 degree heat in Los Angeles, which was a record high for any World Series game since they started keeping temperature records in 1975. By the way, this kind of weather is not normal for Los Angeles any time of year, but it’s downright disturbing in October. (In this article, Mike Petriello also reminds us how much farther the ball travels in warm air.)
• Sam Miller note that while the Dodgers may be the favorites in the World Series, the whole team is made up of underdogs.
• Eric Nusbaum believes that Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig and Astros first baseman Yulieski Gurriel both playing in the World Series represent Cuban baseball having arrived in MLB.
• Puig dyed his hair blue for the World Series. #puigyourfriend
• Mike Lupica has an appreciation of Dodger Stadium, the home of the Dodgers since 1962.
• Will Leitch notes that in Los Angeles, everything changes all the time except the Dodgers. He thinks LA needs something with some permanence.
• Dodgers fan Molly Knight explains what the Dodgers finally making the World Series in her memory means to her. (She wasn’t old enough to remember 1988, but as she said, she won’t be taking the newspaper to her grandfather’s grave if they win the World Series because her grandfather had season tickets when they won three World Series in seven years.)
• Dodgers fans never liked Astros outfielder Josh Reddick much when he played for LA last season and as Reddick explains, the feeling is mutual.
• Scott Lauber talks to several Astros players and members of the front office about when they first saw Jose Altuve play. I first heard about Altuve on the old Baseball Prospectus podcasts with now-Astros pro scouting director Kevin Goldstein and now-Cubs special assistant Jason Parks. Goldstein, who wasn’t with the Astros at that point, raved about Altuve while he was in the low minors. They even did an awkward interview with him at a time that Altuve barely spoke English. Now, he’s doing national commercials in English.
• Jeff Sullivan explains why it is so difficult to pitch to Altuve. Yes, his strike zone is small, but it’s not that much smaller than normal. But umpires tend to shift the zone up on him, which is difficult for pitchers to handle.
• David Schoenfield examines the final 25-man roster for each team and how it could affect the Series.
• Adrian Gonzalez was left off the World Series roster, to no one’s surprise. But a lot was made about the fact that he was in Italy yesterday instead of with his teammates. But while he still wasn’t in the clubhouse for the Series, Gonzalez was in the Los Angeles SportsNet LA studios for the pre- and post-game show.
• Paul Lukas does what he always does and that is preview the uniforms for the World Series.
• Cliff Corcoran has some things to watch for in the Fall Classic.
• Every Astros full-time employee is getting to go to LA for the World Series, either game one or two.
• Jonah Keri ranks the top ten World Series of all-time. I’m sure no one around here will argue with Keri’s choice for the greatest World Series of all time. (No, it’s not 1908.)
• John Perrotto has 5 reasons why this Series could join that list.
• David Schoenfield has reasons to root for the Dodgers or the Astros. Is one of the reasons for the Astros “They’re not the Dodgers”?
• In non-World Series news, the nominees for the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award were announced and they include Bob Costas, Joe Buck, Al Michaels and Joe Morgan. If Morgan wins, we should just throw out the award. I mean, if any of them win, but especially if Morgan wins.
• And former Reds player Ray Knight was arrested on battery charges.
• Back to the World Series. Mike Oz quizzed current Dodgers about the year 1988. Of course, even Oz got wrong who was president in 1988. George H.W. Bush was elected president in November of 1988, but Ronald Reagan was president until January 20, 1989.
• I’m glad I’m not the only one who found the YouTube ad behind home plate at Dodger Stadium distracting.
• And finally, if you’ve got five minutes, watch this video of the final play of every World Series since 1967. I count four walk-offs, 1991, 1993, 1997 and 2001. The rest are all outs. Or, if you don’t have five minutes, just watch the first eight seconds over and over again.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.