A New Ball Game

A World Series record for home runs was just the beginning of the chaos that engulfed Astros-Dodgers. The clash between two analytics-heavy superteams was nothing less than the distillation of modern baseball (and maybe some postmodern baseballs) into a series of wild thrills.

- Tom Verducci

SOMEWHERE AMONG Minute Maid Park’s mammoth retractable roof, the ginormous train rolling on tracks 200 feet off the ground, the battalions of overworked long-whiskered relievers, the curiously lively and slick baseballs, the data provided by Harvard Ph.D.’s to help a manager run a game, the color-coded, pocket-sized laminated cards that tell outfielders where to stand, the paranoia-driven mound summits and—above it all—the constant shelling of home runs, one of which didn’t even require two hands on the bat, the World Series became an extravaganza, a term 18th century Italians came up with to define over the top.Ont he spectrum of spectacles, October baseball this year moved further from Sandy Koufax and closer to Lady Gaga—two famous left handers of differing aesthetics who attended Game 1 in Los Angeles.

The Dodgers and the Astros played a brand of baseball that didn’t exist three years ago, never mind back in Koufax’s day of long shadows and short games.It was a sif both teams took all the major trends in the game, chucked them in a blender and hit puree. Out spilled a concoction that thrilled in ways never before seen or imagined.

“I haven’t seen a whole lot of World Series games,” said Enrique Hernández, L.A.’s 26-year-old utility player, as he walked to ward one of his team’s three buses at the absurd baseball hour of 1:30 a.m. on Monday, after Game 5 in Houston. “But this has to be the craziest Series ever. Two juggernauts going at it. This has to be one of the best ever.”