HOUSTON, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 05: Manager Dusty Baker Jr. of the Houston Astros celebrates after defeating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 to win the 2022 World Series in Game Six of the 2022 World Series at Minute Maid Park on November 05, 2022 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

The Houston Astros captured their second World Series title in six year, coming back to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 in Game 6 down in Houston, Texas.

Yordan Alvarez’s explosive three-run homer over the center field wall in the bottom of the sixth inning proved to be the difference, as Houston became the first MLB team to clinch a World Series title in their home ballpark since the 2013 Boston Red Sox.

The victory is also the first World Series title as a manager for Dusty Baker. While Baker did win a World Series as a player on the 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers, this was his first title as a skipper. Baker is one of the games most respected and winningest managers, having managed five different organization’s over a 25-year period, and has taken each to the postseason.

The only other time he had led a team to a World Series as a manager was the 2002 San Francisco Giants, who lost to the Anaheim Angels in seven games.

Baker’s World Series victory with Houston completes a full circle for both the manager and the franchise. The Astros were mired in the 2017 & 2018 sign stealing scandal, and needed a new manager to lead the team past that era. They found it in the 73-year old Baker, who ironically, when he got the Astros job in 2020 was also in running for the Phillies job and didn’t get it.

He wound up in Houston and the rest is history.

The Alvarez homer came off of Jose Alvarado, who came in for Zach Wheeler, who left the game with a pair of runners on base in the sixth. Wheeler, the former Met took the loss, his second of this World Series.

Framber Valdez earned his second victory of the World Series, tossing six innings of two-hit ball with nine strikeouts. In fact, during the Astros three-game winning streak to end the series, all three starters (Valdez in Game 6, Justin Verlander in Game 5 and Cristian Javier in Game 4) all went at least six innings in their respective start.

The victory cements one of the best seasons in MLB history. The Astros won 106 games during the regular season, and were 11-2 in the postseason, finishing with 117 wins total. That is right up there with the 1998 Yankees who finished with 125 wins (regular season and postseason combined).

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