HOUSTON — Koufax-Ford in ’63. Gibson-McLain in ’68. Glavine-Morris in ’91. Schilling-Mussina in ’01.

Scherzer-Cole in ‘19.

Welcome to the Throwback World Series, a Fall Classic pitting a pair of starting rotations with three studs each against each other. Those who flinch at the mention of phrases like “bullpenning” and “a pitcher’s reduced effectiveness going a third time through the lineup” will find a safe haven in the forms of the Astros and Nationals.

It kicks off in Tuesday night’s Game 1 at Minute Maid Park, with the Nats starting three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer against the Astros’ Gerrit Cole, a co-favorite (with his teammate Justin Verlander) to capture his first Cy Young trophy who just happens to be an impending free agent.

“It’s super exciting,” Houston star third baseman Alex Bregman said Monday. “I think if you ask the Nationals, if you ask the Astros offense, both of them, it’s like, ‘Yeah, you wouldn’t want to face those guys.’ But I think both of these teams want to.

“We want to play against the best pitching. We want to face the best guys in the world. And that’s what the World Series is all about. You want to face the best to be the best. You have to beat the best to be the best.”

The Astros, having just emotionally savaged the Yankees in a dramatic ALCS, will vie for their second championship in three years. The Nationals, who began this season a terrible 19-31 before pulling off a historic recovery, find themselves playing their first World Series in franchise history, including their first 36 seasons of existence as the Montreal Expos.

Houston clearly possesses the superior overall team; the Astros posted a 107-55 record to the Nats’ 93-69. Yet Washington’s group arrives here on a roll thanks to a dramatic wild-card-game victory over the Brewers, a thrilling NLDS upset of the Dodgers and a NLCS sweep of the Cardinals.

“I truly believe that these guys are fired up to be here,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “We played a lot of unbelievable games this year. We’ve come a long way.”

Both finalists came here by relying heavily on their rotations, although the Astros bullpenned their way through ALCS Game 6 and could resort to that strategy in Game 4. The ’Stros (23.7) and the Nats (22.3) ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in wins above replacement by starting pitchers, as per FanGraphs. That dependence won’t change for the worse now. As a matter of fact, the Nationals utilize their starters so regularly that Martinez wouldn’t name a Game 3 starter in case they deploy Patrick Corbin, the obvious candidate for that assignment, as a reliever in the first two contests.

Game 2 on Wednesday night will feature Verlander and Stephen Strasburg, a likely NL Cy Young finalist who can join Cole in the open market should he opt out of his deal with Washington. That’s darn good, yet Game 1 carries the most sizzle because of the presence of Cole, the former Yankees first-round draft pick who has peaked at precisely the right time for both his team and his personal fortunes.

“What I’ve seen of him, he’s really good,” Martinez said. “But we’ve known that. Even in his Pittsburgh days, [I] faced him a lot.”

Martinez worked as the Cubs’ bench coach in 2016 and 2017, Cole’s last two years with the Pirates; both teams play in the NL Central.

Scherzer slowed down some this year due to back and shoulder injuries, yet the 35-year-old remains one of the industry’s better pitchers.

Asked what he admires most about Scherzer, Cole said, “I think probably most his determination because … I feel like that word kind of covers how he competes, how he prepares. You have to be determined to be durable. My gosh, he’s as durable as they come. You have to be determined to be prepared. And he’s as prepared as they come. And then his presence on the mound is determined. He’s got a job to do, and he wants to go out and do it and just put the blinders on and get after the ball.”

We’ll be hearing plenty of such waxing poetic over the next week or so. Let’s face it, most folks seem to prefer mano a mano over bullpen versus bullpen. For that majority, this week looks like quite the treat.

“I personally am a big fan of starting pitching,” Cole said. “I grew up wanting to become a starting pitcher, and I’m a starting pitcher now. And there are a lot of really good starting pitchers on the other side of the field, guys that kind of emulate the role in terms of longevity, durability, [creativity], tenacity, grit. And so just a pleasure to share the field with them on the greatest stage at this point. And best of luck to them.”