Game 6 World Series Thread. November 5, 2022, 7:03 CT, Phillies @ Astros

The Astros come into this game poised to win the World Series for the second time in five years, the only repeat winner during that time, thus establishing themselves as a bonafide dynasty. A win would also remove the albatross around the neck of manager Dusty Baker, who has taken numerous teams to the World Series but has never won a ring.

The Astros bring Framber Valdez to the mound to finish off the Phillies tonight. He is 3-0 this off-season and won Game 2 of the World Series 5-2 to get the Astros back on track after they lost disappointingly in Game 1.

He’ll bring a calm and even-minded approach to the game. In his own words, he’ll: “Just try and attack hitters early, try to breathe, try to stay calm, try to meditate.“

The Astros #2 will face the Phillies #2, Zack Wheeler. Although rumors have circulated that Wheeler is injured, this may be pure conjecture. Remember the rumors that Max Scherzer was injured before Game 7 of the 2019 World Series?

Yuli Gurriel is out for the series with a right knee injury. He will be replaced by catcher Corey Lee. Christian Vazquez will DH, while Trey Mancini will take Gurriel’s position at first base. Despite his great game-saving play in Game 5, generally, this is a big step down defensively, although Vazquez should be an able replacement for Gurriel offensively. Bringing in Lee allows the Astros to replace starting catcher Martin Maldonado during the game without replacing him with Vazquez, at which point the DH position in the lineup would be replaced by the pitcher.

Here are the lineups:

The game is televised on Fox and broadcast on Astros radio KBME AM 790.