Yet however much it would mean to veterans like Cole and Michael Brantley and rookies like Urquidy and Yordan Alvarez, a second Astros championship would not resonate as much nationally as their 2017 title. That World Series was one of the decade’s most riveting matchups: the first appearance by the Los Angeles Dodgers since 1988 and the first victory for a Houston franchise that started in 1962.

The 2017 World Series sometimes bordered on the absurd, with a record 25 homers in seven games, but it included everything a fan could want. It was book-ended by pitching masterpieces (Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 and Charlie Morton in Game 7), with two extra-inning victories by Houston in between. There was a clear hero (Springer, who hit .379 with five homers) and a clear goat (the Dodgers’ Yu Darvish, who lost twice with a 21.60 earned run average). From start to finish, it was the best World Series of the decade.

The most enduring story line, of course, came the year before, when the Chicago Cubs tasted glory for the first time since 1908. To do it, they had to overcome a three-games-to-one deficit against another luckless franchise, the Cleveland Indians, and a final body blow from Rajai Davis, who tied Game 7 with a laser-beam homer in the eighth inning. A rain delay, a rally in the 10th and the first career save by Mike Montgomery gave the Cubs the crown.

The best pitching performance of the decade? That’s easy: It came from the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner, who stifled the Kansas City Royals in relief for five innings to clinch Game 7 in 2014, two days after pitching a shutout in San Francisco.

The best offensive performance? Also easy: It came from David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox in 2013, when he batted an outrageous .688 (11 for 16) with eight walks and two homers against St. Louis to earn his third championship ring.

The best baserunning? That could belong only to Eric Hosmer of the Royals in 2015, when he dared the Mets’ Lucas Duda to throw him out at the plate on the back end of a grounder to David Wright in the ninth inning of Game 5. With a clean throw, the Mets win and give the ball to Jacob deGrom for Game 6 in Kansas City. (It was not a clean throw.)