While Justin Verlander will be searching for his first career World Series victory when he starts Game 1 of the Fall Classic on Friday against the Phillies, José Urquidy may be wondering what's taking him so long. Urquidy has three career World Series wins under his belt, which is two more than any other pitcher in Astros history. In other words, no other Astros pitcher has won multiple games in the World Series. Urquidy is a very effective starting pitcher -- he went 13-8 with a 3.94 ERA in 29 games (28 starts) this season -- but he hasn't been needed in Houston's postseason run to the World Series. The Astros swept the Mariners in the AL Division Series and the Yankees in the AL Championship Series, so they haven't had to go deep into their rotation. Urquidy has been available in the bullpen, but he was the only reliever not to pitch in an 18-inning win over the Mariners in Game 3 of the ALDS. The 27-year-old threw five innings in relief in Houston's win in Game 4 of the 2019 World Series in Washington and won both of the Astros' World Series victories last year against the Braves -- he allowed two runs in five innings in Game 2 and threw one inning in relief in Game 5. Urquidy has a 1.54 ERA in 11 2/3 career innings in the Fall Classic and says he's ready if the Astros need him to add to those totals. "I want to be there, I want to participate in this series, but I understand the decision of the staff," said Urquidy, who hasn't pitched since Sept. 23. "If they need me, I will be there -- to start or be in the bullpen or whatever. I'm ready and I want to be in this series, for sure." | WORLD SERIES GAME 1 GUIDE |
Game 1, which will air on FOX at 8 p.m. ET/7 CT, is scheduled for Friday. All games are available in the U.S. on MLB.TV (authentication to a participating Pay TV provider is required). Live games are also available in select countries outside the U.S. For full details, click here. |
1. Jose Altuve, 2B
2. Jeremy Peña, SS
3. Yordan Alvarez, LF
4. Alex Bregman, 3B
5. Kyle Tucker, RF
6. Yuli Gurriel, 1B
7. Trey Mancini, DH
8. Chas McCormick, CF
9. Martín Maldonado, C |
1. Kyle Schwarber, LF
2. Rhys Hoskins, 1B
3. J.T. Realmuto, C
4. Bryce Harper, DH
5. Nick Castellanos, RF
6. Alec Bohm, 3B
7. Bryson Stott, SS
8. Jean Segura, 2B
9. Brandon Marsh, CF More information on Game 1 can be found here. |
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Astros: Why mess with a good thing? Martín Maldonado will catch Verlander in Game 1, which means he'll bat ninth behind Chas McCormick, who has gotten most of the starts at center in the playoffs and should be in Friday's lineup. Phillies: Philadelphia entered the World Series with the top four hitters in its lineup swinging the bat well. Manager Rob Thomson has been pretty consistent with the Phils' lineup in the postseason: The only changes come at center fielder and shortstop. Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott start against righties, while Matt Vierling and Edmundo Sosa start against lefties. |
Astros: Justin Verlander (1-0, 6.30 ERA in the postseason) will start Game 1 in Houston. Verlander started Game 1 of the AL Division Series against the Mariners, giving up six runs and 10 hits in four innings, and pitched better in his Game 1 start in the AL Championship Series, allowing one run and three hits in six innings against the Yankees. His final regular-season start came Oct. 4 against the Phillies and he didn't allow a hit in five innings, capping a regular season in which he was 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA and will likely win his third Cy Young Award. In Verlander's postseason career, he's 15-11 with a 3.55 ERA in 33 games (32 starts), but he is 0-6 with a 5.68 ERA in seven World Series starts. Phillies: Right-hander Aaron Nola (2-1, 3.12 ERA in the 2022 postseason) will start Game 1 in Houston. Nola pitched 6 2/3 perfect innings before allowing a couple hits against the Astros on Oct. 3 at Minute Maid Park, where the Phils clinched the third NL Wild Card spot. Nola has been mostly rolling since then. He allowed one unearned run in 12 2/3 innings in his first two starts in the postseason before he got tagged for six runs in 4 2/3 innings in Game 2 of the National League Championship in San Diego. The Padres were on Nola's fastball so much that the Phillies looked to see if he might have been tipping his pitches. He wasn't. He just did not execute as needed against talented hitters. Nola will be well rested for Game 1, which is a good thing, because he is typically better with extra rest. |
Astros: The Astros posted the best bullpen ERA in the regular season in the Major Leagues and the relief corps has pitched even better in the playoffs. Houston's relievers have allowed three runs -- all on solo homers -- and 14 hits while striking out 42 batters in 33 innings this postseason. Bryan Abreu, Héctor Neris, Rafael Montero and closer Ryan Pressly have emerged as Dusty Baker's four main high-leverage bullpen arms, but there's depth beyond that. Ryne Stanek, who had a 1.15 ERA in the regular season, has swing-and-miss stuff and the Astros still have two starters in the bullpen: José Urquidy, who hasn't pitched yet in the playoffs, and Luis Garcia, whose only postseason outing was five scoreless innings in relief to close out Game 3 of the ALDS. |
Phillies: The Phils' bullpen has slowly come together late in the season, with Seranthony Domínguez and José Alvarado the top two options late in games. But Thomson also has used right-handers Zach Eflin and David Robertson in the ninth inning in the postseason. It really depends who is available and what the matchups look like. Behind those four are left-hander Brad Hand and righties Andrew Bellatti and Connor Brogdon. Noah Syndergaard is the potential No. 4 starter. |
Astros: Peña hit .353 with two doubles, two homers and four RBIs to become the fifth rookie to win LCS MVP honors. Gurriel is 11-for-30 (.367) and Bregman is 10-for-30 (.333) in the postseason. Altuve, who started the playoffs 0-for-25, had a two-hit game in Game 4 of the ALCS. Alvarez is 7-for-29 with two homers and eight RBIs in the postseason, but he was 3-for-14 in the ALCS. Phillies: Harper is batting .419 with six doubles, five home runs, 11 RBIs and a 1.351 OPS in the postseason. He hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the eighth inning in Game 5 on Sunday to send Philadelphia to the World Series, earning the NLCS MVP for his efforts. Schwarber is batting .368 with three homers, four RBIs and a 1.442 OPS in his past seven playoff games. Hoskins is batting .269 with five homers, 11 RBIs and a 1.191 OPS in his past seven postseason games. |
• The Astros and Phillies met once previously in the playoffs. That was in 1980, when Houston split the first two games of the best-of-five NLCS, won Game 3 and then dropped the final two games. Four of the five games went into extra innings. • The Astros are 9-15 all-time in World Series games, having lost six of their past eight games in the Fall Classic. Houston is 3-9 all-time at home in the World Series, having lost six of its past seven World Series home games. |
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