From laughingstock to lift off. George Springer and the Houston Astros rocketed to the top of the baseball galaxy Wednesday night, winning the first World Series championship in franchise history by romping past the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 in Game 7, the AP reports. Playing for a city still recovering from Hurricane Harvey, and wearing an H Strong logo on their jerseys, the Astros brought home the prize that had eluded them since they started out in 1962 as the Colt .45s. "I always believed that we could make it," All-Star second baseman Jose Altuve said. "We did this for them." Altuve is one of four carry-overs from a club that lost an embarrassing 111 times in 2013 after switching from the NL to the AL.
For a Series that was shaping up as an October classic, Game 7 quickly became a November clunker at Dodger Stadium as Houston scored five runs in the first two innings off an ineffective Yu Darvish. Springer led off the evening with a double against Darvish, and soon it was 2-0. Springer hit his fifth homer—tying the Series mark set by Reggie Jackson and matched by Chase Utley—when he connected for a record fourth game in a row, making it 5-0 in the second. "We're coming home a champion, Houston," Springer said after accepting the World Series MVP trophy, named this year after Willie Mays for the first time.
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