The last week of October means many things, Halloween, usually the end of the first term of school, and perhaps the most important, the World Series. The World Series is the Major League Baseball’s (MLB) championship and is a best-of-seven series (first to win four games) between the champion of the American League (AL) and National League (NL). This year’s will be the 115th edition of the World Series.

This year’s match up features the AL champion Houston Astros and the NL champion Washington Nationals. This is the first time the two have met in the World Series. They did used to both play in the NL until the Astros moved from the NL Central Division to the AL West in 2013.

This is the Astro’s third appearance in the World Series, they also made it in 2017, a year in which they won against the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven-games, and 2005 back when they were in the NL before they got beat by the Chicago White Sox in four-games. They used to be a bottom dwelling team in the MLB during the late-2000s and early-2010s, but they have made the playoffs four of the last five years and will be appearing in their second World Series in three years.

This is the Washington National’s first appearance in the World Series, in fact it was the first time since 1981, back when they were in Montreal, Canada, that they won a playoff series and the first time ever they have won a National League Championship Series (NLCS).

The teams had very different amounts of success during the season. The Astros were one of the top team in the league all season and finished with a 107-55 record, the best in the MLB. The Nationals on the other hand at one point were 19-31. They finished the season 93-69 and qualified as the top wild card team after finishing second in their division. They then came from behind and beat the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Wild Card Game. In the Divisional Round, both teams went to the max five games of the best-of-five series. The Astros beat the AL Wild Card Game winner Tampa Bay Rays in five games 3-2, and the Washington Nationals beat the best team in the NL Los Angeles Dodgers in another amazing game in which veteran and former Salt Lake Bee player, Howie Kendrick hit a grand slam in extra innings to win the game. In the League Championship Round, the Nationals used stellar pitching from Max Scherzer, Anibal Sanchez, and Stephan Strasburg to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in four games in the best-of-seven series. The Astros played my favorite team, the New York Yankees in the ALCS. They won in six games, with the help of a walk off home runs from Carlos Correra and Jose Altuve in games two and six.

As an MLB fan I am conflicted. It would be awesome to watch Washington win the title, especially after their star Bryce Harper left in the off season. The Astros did beat my team though so I could say it would that we lost to the eventually champions. No matter who wins expect to see great pitching from the trios of Gerrit Cole, Justin Verlander, and Zack Greinke for Houston, and Max Scherzer, Stephan Starsburg, and Patrick Corbin for Washington.