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The Best World Series of the 21st Century

Publish Date: 05/02/2025
Fact checked by: Mark Lewis

Baseball fans love to argue. It’s practically the sport's unofficial pastime. Who’s the greatest hitter? The best pitcher? What’s the definitive World Series of the 21st century? For my money—and yours, if you’re feeling generous—the answer to the last question is the 2017 World Series. Yes, the one that’s become as controversial as it was captivating. But controversy and brilliance often go hand in hand, don’t they?

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When the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers collided in October 2017, the stars quite literally aligned. On one side, the Dodgers boasted a 104-win juggernaut fueled by a Clayton Kershaw whose curveball defied physics, and a rookie Cody Bellinger, who seemed born to pulverize baseballs. On the other, the Astros fielded a lineup so deep it could’ve been mistaken for a poetry anthology—Altuve, Springer, Correa. Each player a stanza in a Homeric epic of hitting.

By the time the dust settled, it was a seven-game epic dripping with drama, tension, and enough plot twists to make M. Night Shyamalan blush. Games 2 and 5 alone are the kind of showdowns that require hyperbole to describe because normal language just doesn’t do them justice.

The Madness of Game 2

If you didn’t believe in baseball gods before Game 2, you probably had a change of heart by the time the Astros won 7-6 in 11 innings. The Dodgers led 3-1 in the eighth inning, with Kershaw’s masterpiece seemingly carved into stone. Then Houston did what Houston did all postseason: they turned the ordinary into the extraordinary. Marwin González tattooed a game-tying homer off closer Kenley Jansen, an act that felt as audacious as stealing the Mona Lisa.

From there, it was an all-out slugfest. Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa homered in the 10th, but Yasiel Puig refused to let the Dodgers fade into the Los Angeles night. He was pure theater, punctuating each swing with flair and every sprint with attitude. The Astros eventually claimed victory, but only after giving the Dodgers’ fans a collective heart attack.

Game 5: Baseball on Acid

Then came Game 5, a delirious fever dream of a game that belongs in Cooperstown’s “What the Heck Just Happened?” wing. The Astros won 13-12 in 10 innings, a scoreline that belongs more to an NFL matchup than baseball’s grand stage.

“Game 5 was the craziest game I’ve ever been part of,” Astros outfielder George Springer said. He wasn’t exaggerating. The game swung more wildly than a cat batting at a dangling string. Leads evaporated like morning dew. Both aces, Kershaw and Dallas Keuchel, got rocked. The ball itself seemed possessed, flying out of Minute Maid Park at the faintest suggestion of contact.

The defining moment came in the 10th inning when Alex Bregman lined a walk-off single, sending the Houston faithful into euphoric delirium. Fans didn’t just cheer; they roared, as if exorcising decades of disappointment.

The Elephant in the Room

Of course, no discussion of the 2017 World Series is complete without addressing the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, which later came to light. Purists will argue the championship is tainted, but let’s not pretend the games weren’t dazzling. The scandal adds a complicated layer, like finding out your favorite song was written in a fit of rage—it doesn’t make it any less of a banger.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Game 5, “This is baseball at its best.” He wasn’t wrong, even if history would later slap an asterisk next to the Astros’ title.

Why the 2017 World Series Matters

What makes the 2017 World Series the best of the 21st century isn’t just the drama or the scandal, but the sheer audacity of the games themselves. It was baseball turned up to 11, a high-stakes symphony where every pitch, every swing, and every dive felt monumental.
For seven games, the Astros and Dodgers reminded us why we love this maddeningly beautiful sport. It’s messy. It’s magical. And sometimes, it leaves us with more questions than answers. But, oh, what a ride.

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