What an ALCS. Completely full of intrigue, career-defining performances, and Great Narratives. Which brings us to the main stage, the World Series. A 104-win behemoth of a team in the Los Angeles Dodgers against the 101 win offensive juggernaut, “underdog” Houston Astros. It’s a David and Goliath story, except David is also 8-foot 11-inches and could probably (maybe) beat Goliath in an arm wrestling competition. This is a stacked World Series, with all kinds of exciting players and questions to be answered. Will Kenley Jansen solidify his place as supreme pitching overlord? Will Jose Altuve continue to hit baseballs more often than the Mariners disappoint their fanbase? Will Clayton “Not Bumgarner” Kershaw shut down Houston to once and for all eliminate his reputation as a playoff choke artist? Will Marwin Gonzales finally show up with the bat, the same one that had the sixth highest OPS in the Majors this year? All these questions and more will be answered Tuesday, but until then, take this preview as an appetizer to tease your baseball inclinations until you’re totally blue-balled and oh god why do we have to wait so long for baseball (Presented by Youtube TV).

LA Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers were the team for pretty much the entire year. The Astros had the best record for a time, but the Dodgers took that over well before the All-Star Break and never looked back. Maybe they tried to steal a couple over the shoulder glances when they forgot that you’re supposed to actually win baseball games during that awful 15 loss streak in August-September, but they maintained their best record in baseball all the way through game 162. Their recipe was obvious but difficult to execute; be better than every other team at pretty much everything.

Depending on what metric you use, the Dodgers were firmly in the top 5 for offenses in MLB and were also the second-best pitching staff only to the Indians. While the Astros had far and away the best offense, and Cleveland had a slightly overall better pitching staff, neither were as consistently elite at that combination than the Dodgers, who have been a beacon of the importance of depth the past few years. That depth has also turned into absolute stardom in certain cases.

Take Justin Turner, the signee of a $1 million minor league contract in 2014 after a very unsuccessful and injury-riddled turn with the Mets. He has blossomed into an MVP candidate this year and NLCS co-MVP with Chris Taylor. Oh, and he also has the third highest OPS all-time in the postseason, but that’s no big deal. Speaking of Chris Taylor, a guy the Mariners traded to LA for Zach Lee, one who went from a depth bench piece to starting Centerfielder and doing it to the tune of a 126 wRC+ and a 4.7 fWAR. The Dodgers used these hidden gems, the Rich Hill’s, the Cody Bellinger’s (who hit literally 1 home run his senior year in high school before being drafted by LA), to supplement their high-profile players like Kershaw, Jansen and the new Yu Darvish, resulting in a team that has lost only 1 playoff game so far.

The narratives are pretty compelling, too; Clayton Kershaw being the chief amongst them. It is without question that since his debut as a 20 year old kid in 2008 he has been the best pitcher in all of baseball, the best pitcher of his entire generation. By the time he retires, he could be considered the greatest of all time, and if I had a vote, he would already be in the hall of fame even if he retires at the end of the World Series.

But this legacy is muddied, albeit somewhat unfairly; Kershaw has not been an all-time great pitcher in the playoffs. He hasn’t even been all that good, even. He has sported a 4.40 ERA over his career in the playoffs, starkly contrasted from his career 2.36 ERA in the regular season. Now you might be thinking, and rightly so, that ERA isn’t exactly a great measurement of performance, especially with smaller sample sizes (remember when Jeff Locke had a low 3 ERA in the first half of 2013?), but FIP doesn’t paint a flattering picture either, at 3.70. Now a 3.70 FIP isn’t terrible. It would sandwich Kershaw around names like Dan Haren and CJ Wilson, but that’s a huge gap from his career regular season 2.60 FIP, easily best in the majors since his debut season.

But this world series can change all of that. With just 2 starts and a possible bullpen appearance in game 7 a-la-Bumgarner or Randy Johnson, Kershaw could completely erase any and all grumblings about his postseason struggles. Fittingly, with the criticisms mostly coming from a place of not accounting for small sample sizes, the script could flip entirely with the smallest of sample sizes. However, if Kershaw continues to struggle, leading to a Houston victory, his legacy would most likely be cemented as an unclutch pitcher.

Houston Astros

What a year it has been for the Astros and the city of Houston. A year of triumph, heartbreak, elation, devastation, but an ever-beating heart of hope. There’s nothing I can say about the disastrous Harvey flooding that hasn’t been said before, except unlike the writers reporting from afar, I no longer have a bedroom due to flooding. My parents sleep in an RV in our driveway (a gift from a family friend when my parents were still sleeping on the concrete floor of our home), and the only clothes I have are the few I brought with me to college.The despair is real, and while it is easy to see how a stupid sports team can provide brief distractions, it is a reality that this year’s Astros mean just a little bit more to me and a little bit more to my city than in years past.

But this year is no sob story for our baseball team. They have easily produced the greatest season in Houston’s 55-year baseball history. Their 101 wins were second best in franchise history, edged out by the 1998 Astros, who won 102. This year marks just the second time in history the franchise has seen the World Series, and if they can even muster just 1 measly win, they will have won the first world series game in Texas history. They easily dispatched the Red Sox in the ALDS three games to one and had a very entertaining ALCS win over the Yankees in 7 highly contested games. The Astros playoff achievements so far are unique, being that they are the first team to ever beat the Red Sox and the Yankees in the same postseason. If they triumph over the Dodgers, they’ll have beaten, arguably, the three largest fanbases in baseball.

They are a formidable 101 win team and are very deserving to be in the fall classic. The often overlooked pitching staff has at times looked dominant, with co-aces Keuchel and Verlander having exceptional postseasons so far, and supporting members of the staff such as Lance McCullers, Charlie Morton, and Collin McHugh all coming up in big moments. In their four victories over the Yankees, the Astro pitching staff held New York to 1, 1, 1, and 0 runs respectively (although conceded 8, 6 and 5 in their losses). When it’s on, it’s lights out, especially when shiny new Astro Justin Verlander takes the hill. He won ALCS MVP with a dominant two starts going 9 and 7 innings in games 2 and 6 respectively, saving Houston’s season in the latter.

But the real story is the offense. I might have buried the lede a bit here, but only because the pitching is sure to be overlooked when compared to this historic offense. No matter what metric you go by, the 2017 Astros are comfortably a top 10 offense in MLB history. By OPS+, a measurement that looks at OPS relative to the league average that year, this years Astros is the greatest of all time offensively, barely edging out the ’27 Yankees (murderer’s row). Led by charming and obsessively great Jose Altuve (whose height I refuse to mention or reference, you unoriginal jabronis), The Astros offense hit the second most home runs while striking out the very least in all of baseball, an astonishing accomplishment.

Will they beat the Dodgers? Hopefully. The odds, as far as I’m concerned, are pretty much 50/50. But the score is already settled when it comes to their place in the city of Houston’s history; the 2017 Astros are a once-in-a-lifetime team and one who will retain a special place in Houston’s hearts forever.