Outside The Confines: A World Series contender least likely?

I think for those who were placing bets on the most-likely World Series matchups, there are likely few remaining brackets who had the Phillies on their list to be NL champions.

The Phillies are the real outliers here. They placed third in the NL East with only 87 wins, and two teams in their own division won 101. The real leaders in terms of winning numbers, though, were the 2020 World Series winners, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won a staggering 111 games only to lose in the first round of the postseason.

Meanwhile, the Astros completed a four-game sweep of the ALCS and will meet the Phillies in the World Series beginning Friday night in Houston.

The Astros were the winningest team in the American League, so their place in the World Series isn’t exactly stunning, but it seemed like every baseball writer mid-season was talking about how the Yankees were poised for a historic winning run, and the focus was so much on Aaron Judge’s home run numbers that a lot of people didn’t seem to realize the Astros won 106 games.

The baseball postseason is literally anyone’s game, which makes this sort of thing par for the course, but it’s still stunning to see the Phillies heading into the next round.

• Did the Yankees draw inspiration from the Red Sox? Bryan Hoch looks at the unlikely inspo.
• Too bad their inspiration couldn’t help them in a dismal game three loss, said Jeff Passan.
• Chris Kirschner offers some insight into the offensive woes that led to the Yankees' loss. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Yu Darvish got hit by a throw from his own teammate, writes Thomas Harrigan.
• Esteban Rivera looks at some of baseball’s strongest infield arms.
• Matt Martell wonders if we’ve seen the end of do-or-die playoff games.
• Didn’t he retire?

• AP has more on the Bochy hire.
• The Guardians might not have made it to the World Series but Terry Francona will get a chance for a reprise next year. (AP)
• Todd Zolecki looks at what might possibly be the biggest home run of Bryce Harper’s career.
• Tom Verducci also waxes poetic about Harper’s mammoth home run.
• That same home run was a big factor into what won him the NLCS MVP, writes Paul Casella.
• This logo is incredible.

And tomorrow will be a better day, Buster. Make it so.