World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers look to finish historic season but Houston Astros have their own motivation

All season, the dominant Los Angeles Dodgers have insisted that World Series titles aren’t won in the regular season – “they’re won in October.”

Well now it’s time for the big dance and, having been the best team in baseball for much of the punishing, 162-game regular season, the Dodgers are ready to make good on their promise.

Standing in their way are the Houston Astros, the only team who could claim to have toppled Dodgers as kings of baseball this season and thus a fitting opponent for what promises to be a high-quality finale.

It all gets underway on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, and in a city renowned for shunning losers but flocking to see winners, the stratospheric ticket prices have given away the local fans’ desperate thirst for World Series ball. 29 years have passed since the Dodgers won the last of their six World Series titles. Indeed, they haven’t even played in the Fall Classic since that 1988 title, an astonishing run considering they have made the playoffs eleven times since and nine of those as the winners of the National League West Division.

For much of 2017 they looked an unstoppable juggernaut and the deadline-day trade for pitcher Yu Darvish, a move designed to get them over the line as championship contenders, looks to have had the desired effect. Their bullpen rotation boasts fearsome quality and in Clayton Kershaw, Yaisel Puig and Cody Bellinger there is good mix of talent running through a team boasting both up-and-comers and players in their prime.

The left-handed Kershaw has spent much of his 10 years in the league considered as one of the sport’s best pitchers but has struggled to translate regular-season dominance to post-season glory.

"Winning the World Series is really all that we play this game for,” he said this week. “All the individual stuff is great, but at the end of the day, I just want to win a World Series."

Standing in his way, and that of his teammates, are the Houston Astros, a 101-win team just four years removed from a 100-loss season in 2013.

That turnaround is extraordinary and, after the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey during the season, the Astros would represent a popular winner among neutral fans.

They too made a big trade on the deadline to strengthen their bullpen and rangy veteran Justin Verlander has proven an astute acquisition from the Detroit Tigers. Dallas Keuchel remains the first-string pitcher and with Verlander forms one of the best one-two punches in the league but their lack of depth compared to the Dodgers will be tested in game three back in Houston.

The hope is that Jose Altuve, the leader of their offense, can provide the big-moment plays when it matters, be that with the bat or at second base.

But the Dodgers remain the favourites and LA is desperate for another chance at glory. Houston just wants to smile again. The two best teams in baseball are ready and waiting. October is here, and the World Series is ready to be won.