Having kicked the New York Yankees to a Bronx curb in the seven-game American League Championship Series, the Houston Astros enter unfamiliar territory: The baseball version of the senior prom, the country club cotillion, and the invitation-only society affair known as the World Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers will be H-Town’s dance partner, beginning Tuesday and Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.

This Astros/Dodgers pairing will be the first meeting of two 100-win teams since 1970, when the Reds (102) and Orioles (108) battled it out. It was also the last Fall Classic with all its games played in the afternoon. The O’s topped the Reds, 4-1.

The Astros are hoping to avoid the abysmal showing of their last World Series clash, the 2005 World Series sweep at the hands of the Chicago White Sox.

Road to Ruin or Away Field Advantage?

Houston, having earned home-field advantage for the ALCS, took full advantage, winning the four games at Minute Maid Park, while dropping the three Yankee Stadium battles, and doing so in a spectacularly feeble manner.

Those tough 27 New York outs have brought some doubt to some of the network talking heads, wondering just how the Astros will fare at the Chavez Ravine, home of the Dodgers, winners of an MLB-best 104 regular season games.

There does seem to be a consensus that the two best teams in baseball have risen to the top for this World Series, as LA won 104 games to Houston’s 101. Split hairs if you’d like in the direction of Cleveland’s 102, but save for a historic September run of 22 straight, it’s very likely the Indians’ total would’ve fallen quite a bit short of the century mark.

The Astros, meanwhile, were sitting pretty in the driver’s seat by as early as June, so hot was their blastoff, and cooled a bit during Cleveland’s unforeseen streak.

Interestingly, especially considering the first two World Series games, the Dodgers’ home record for 2017 was 57-24, by far the best in baseball, to no one’s surprise. Conversely, the Astros can counter with a nearly-similar 53-28 road record, the best in baseball, to everyone’s surprise, except possibly the Indians, who tied Houston with that same road mark.

In fact, Houston’s road winning percentage of .654 eclipses their percentage of games won at Minute Maid, which is .593. Games 3 and 4 will be played in Houston, as will Game 5, if necessary.

In the 81 games played outside of Houston, the Astros scored 501 runs, which was tops in the Majors for 2017. In fact, the Astros were first or tied for the No. 1 ranking on the road in home runs at 123, RBI at 472, and batting average of .284.

Digesting The Fruit Bowl: Big Apple vs. Orange Groves

Much was made of the noise and intensity of Yankee Stadium as the Astros progressed through their three-game swoon there, last week.

Reports of beer being poured on manager A.J. Hinch’s family in the stands brought about talk of ill-mannered New York fans (really?). In fact, according to Houston’s Fox26 affiliate’s Mark Berman, “Hinch told reporters today he let the umpires know last night he was unhappy with the fans throwing stuff on the field during game 4 (of ALCS).” And, according to 12Up, Hinch went to the umpires (during Game 4), and threatened to pull his team off the field, after fans began throwing various objects at Astro players in the outfield. One ump, apparently fearing a riot, responded with, “I don’t know what you want me to do.”

Even more classless, according to one fan in attendance, was his report of several Yankee fans tauntingly yelling “Hurricane Harvey” at nearby Astro fans, citing the horrific and devastating storm that besieged the entire Gulf Coast in late August.

“There’s no doubt the crowd had an effect on the game,” Astros DH Carlos Beltran told Sports Illustrated shortly thereafter. “This place is loud, same as it was in Houston.”

A day or so later, Hinch mentioned that the noise and Yankee Stadium hubbub reportedly rattling the Astros was an overreach, that “the Yankees just beat us.”

Meanwhile, on the left coast, Dodgers fans are known to arrive, casually, around the 3rd inning, while packing up somewhere in the 8th, in an effort (usually pointless) to avoid end-of-game traffic.

Plus, the laid-back LA denizens are far from the noisy, obnoxious behavior New York fans are known to have spent decades perfecting, however stereotypically. Plus, instead of New York’s beer bottles and batteries, if LA fans are wont to engage in object-tossing, a kale salad, spring roll, and tall pumpkin spice latte are infinitely easier to dodge.

Upshot? Look for Crush City to respond favorably to whatever Dodger Stadium can bring. It can’t possibly equal or surpass the bluster, venom, and vitriol served up by Gotham’s denizens. Speaking of which, I wonder at which team (Dodgers or Astros) they’ll be throwing things, from the comfort of their living room couches and sports bars?

Bayou City vs. Tinsel Town: Two Hot Teams

And, what of the record heat predicted for LA County for mid-week? A temperature of 101 degrees was reported at 1 pm Monday, while predictions set a first-pitch temp of upper 90s for Tuesday, which gives it a chance of being the hottest World Series game ever. The sun will set about an hour after the first pitch, so relief will come sooner than later. According to USA Today, “The hottest game-time temperature for a World Series game — any playoff game, in fact — was 94 degrees for Game 1 between the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees on Oct. 27, 2001.”

Notes From a Launch Pad

So you don’t have to, Astro fan Laura Bell calculated the distance from Minute Maid Park to Dodger Stadium: 1,510,409.5 Altuves. I know…seems closer.

After their workout, Monday, at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers played a simulated game, prepping for Tuesday’s Game 1. Per Bobby Dynamite, Minute Maid’s train operator: “Altuve is already 3 for 3.”

Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts, and Houston skipper, AJ Hinch, are good friends from when they both worked for the San Diego Padres. They actually had breakfast in January and chatted about how cool it would be to face each other in the Fall Classic.

“They led the major leagues in wins for a reason,” Astros Game 1 starter Dallas Keuchel said of the Dodgers. “They’re not to be taken lightly, but we’re not to be either.” Clayton Kershaw takes the hill for the Dodgers opposite Keuchel.

Related: WS Game 1: Keuchel’s 3 Mistakes + Kershaw’s 1 = Astros Get Beat in the Heat