Despite their fans rooting them on, the home teams during this year’s World Series have not been winning, and it’s a shame.
For the third time in MLB history, the road team has taken the first five games of the World Series. Dating back to last season when the Red Sox took Games 4 and 5 in Los Angeles, visiting teams have won seven straight World Series games for the first time.
During the first two games of the Series in Houston, the visiting Nationals outscored the Astros by a 17-7 margin. Back home in Washington with a chance to close out the visitors, the Nats were outscored by Houston 19-3 in three games, all losses.
“We took a pretty heavy punch in the gut when it came to the first two games,” said Astros manager AJ Hinch. “The Nats came out hot. They won a close game, then they blew us out late. And then you take a step back, and you’re like, we’re still in the World Series and it’s still a race to four wins. You win that first win. I said that: I think the vibe was going to start to pick up a little bit.”
With the Series now shifting back to Houston for Game 6 and the Astros in a position to clinch their second title in three seasons, history is on their side.
In the two previous instances (1906 and 1996) when road teams won the first five games of the World Series, the home team won Game 6, and the title, both times. Overall, home teams in MLB are 43-24 in Game 6s and have won five of the last six.
Prior to the Series, home teams were 17-13 in the postseason.
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