World Series

The Astros had lots of experience against Yu Darvish from his days with the Rangers, and they chased their former cross-state foe in a Game 3 win that gave them a 2-1 Series lead. Houston grabbed a four-run lead in the second inning and never looked back, and Lance McCullers Jr. followed up his brilliant relief outing from the ALCS, deftly using his curveball over 5 1/3 solid innings. The Dodgers did their best to chip away at the Astros' lead but couldn't overcome the shortest start of Darvish's career and a 3 2/3-inning save by Brad Peacock.

Slumping Cody Bellinger broke out to score the tying run in the seventh and drive in the go-ahead run in a five-run ninth that was capped by Joc Pederson's homer, as the Dodgers evened the Fall Classic. L.A. needed the offense despite Alex Wood taking a no-hit bid into the sixth, which ended on George Springer's homer. Houston was held to two hits, the other an Alex Bregman dinger in the ninth

After the Astros and Dodgers combined to hit seven homers, Alex Bregman ripped a walk-off single to left center off Los Angeles closer Kenley Jansen in the 10th inning to score pinch-runner Derek Fisher from second base and put an end to the second-longest World Series game in history, sending Houston to a dramatic victory that has the American League Champs one victory away from the crown.

Never bet against Yasiel Puig. The Dodgers' right fielder predicted after Game 5 that the World Series would go the distance, and thanks to Chris Taylor's RBI double and Corey Seager's sacrifice fly against Justin Verlander in the sixth inning, with Joc Pederson's solo HR in the seventh tacked on for insurance, there will be the first Game 7 in Dodger Stadium history. Verlander was brilliant through five, backed by George Springer's homer off Rich Hill in the third, but his fortunes changed in that fateful frame, setting the stage for Wednesday's winner-take-all contest.

Jumping out to an early 5-0 lead in the first Fall Classic Game 7 in Dodger Stadium history, Houston held off L.A. for its first World Series title. Series MVP George Springer doubled and scored in the first, and hit his record-tying fifth homer an inning later to chase Yu Darvish. The Dodgers stranded 10, managing their lone run off Charlie Morton, who capped the Astros' win with four innings of relief.

A Chris Sale-Clayton Kershaw playbill gave way to a hastily arranged alternative Game 1 of the World Series in which the Red Sox defeated the Dodgers, 8-4, on Tuesday night, on the might of a more bullish bullpen, a more polished defensive effort and a back-breaking pinch-hit, three-run dinger off the bat of Eduardo Nunez.

Channeling the bewitching brilliance in two-out situations that has defined their overpowering October run, the Red Sox mounted a three-run rally against Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu and reliever Ryan Madson to take a lead they would not squander in Wednesday's victory at Fenway Park in Game 2 of this World Series. J.D. Martinez's two-run single gave Boston the lead for good in the big fifth inning, which helped turn David Price's quality start into a win and give the Sox a 2-0 advantage as the Fall Classic shifts to Los Angeles.

The dugout was dead, the bats silent, and the concern was growing that, perhaps, a Game 3 that had featured double the innings might have, in a sense, featured double the losses for the Red Sox. With their pitching plan ripped up, Rich Hill locking down their lineup and Yasiel Puig doing his bat-dropping, arm-raising, bicep-kissing dance around the basepaths, a Boston ballclub that had dominated the first two games of this World Series was in serious danger of seeing its edge eliminated.

The baseball season ends just as the discussion about this Boston Red Sox club's place in the sport's long and layered history begins. It's not enough to simply state that the Red Sox put the finishing touches on their ninth title -- and fourth since 2004 -- with a clear and convincing 5-1 victory over the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday night at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers blew a lead in the eighth. They made a seemingly deadly defensive gaffe in the 13th. They watched the first of Max Muncy's would-be walk-off winners hook just right of the right-field foul pole in the 15th. But they somehow survived the wildest game of this postseason -- indeed, the longest game in postseason history -- and have salvaged their stake in this World Series. Muncy connected on Nathan Eovaldi's 97th pitch of relief to swat an 18th-inning solo shot that gave the Dodgers an exhilarating-but-exhausting 3-2 victory over the Red Sox in Game 3 early Saturday morning. That cut their deficit down to 2-1 in a best-of-seven set that has suddenly shifted from one-sided to simply scintillating.