In their 55 years of existence, the Houston Astros have only made two World Series appearances. The first came in 2005 when they were swept by the Chicago White Sox. That wasn’t going to happen this time around.

If you wanted to experience everything that a baseball game had to offer, you were in luck with the 2017 World Series. In game 1 it was a pitchers duel. Games 2 and 5 went into extra innings. Games 3 and 6 were a battle of the bullpens and Game 7 saw one team jump out of the gate early and never looked back.

This series was about as even as you could have hoped for, but what happened in Game 5 will go down as one of the most insane games in baseball history. There were so many ties and lead changes it was making my head spin. The final score was 13-12 in 10 innings played. The box score doesn’t even begin to tell the whole story suffice it to say that the batters for both the Astros and Dodgers were playing their best games of the year. The pitching wasn’t awful despite the score. The hitters were just better.

Each team used their home field to their advantage, but obviously whomever could win a road game would have a leg up on the other. That turned out to be the Astros as they won two games at Dodger Stadium.

Houston had quite a few options for the World Series MVP. Two pitchers stood out above all else in Lance McCullers and Charlie Morton. The latter having pitched a gem in Game 4 striking out 7 in 6-1/3 innings pitched for a no-decision. His 4-inning relief appearance to close out Game 7 and earn the victory will be remembered for quite some time in Houston.

The bats had Carlos Correa, whose proposal to his girlfriend after Game 7 was unexpected, but welcomed with all the happiness on the field. Alex Bregman had the walk-off hit in Game 5 off Kenley Jansen and some amazing defensive plays throughout the series.

The MVP award went to their catalyst in George Springer. He tied a World Series record for home runs in a series with five. They came at big moments too when Houston needed it. His .379 batting average for the series wasn’t too shabby either.

This was an eventful and sometimes exhausting series. Both teams showed they wanted to win just as badly as the other. It’s exactly the kind of World Series we should be accustomed to seeing year in and year out.

Congratulations to the Houston Astros on their first World Series title. With all that has happened in the past few months after Hurricane Harvey, this was a welcome addition to the city and the Astros fans.