How Past Teams In The Dodgers’ Position Have Done In The World Series

It was a quiet day at Chavez Ravine yesterday.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros received an off-day after an exhausting three-game stretch at Minute Maid Park. There was a lot of noise, a huge surplus of home runs, and too many twists-and-turns. Baseball has transitioned towards a game that’s derived from analytics, but the foundation is based off of human factors that quite frankly, have made this World Series unlike many others.

There might be one metric that jumps out at this point, but this might be it:

A lot of teams that were down 3-2, came back home, and eventually rallied together to win the World Series.

last 10 WS when team went home down 3-2. 9 Teams forced a Game 7 & 8 Won WS
11STL
02Angel
01Arz
91Twin
87Twin
86 Met
85 Royal
1982 Cards

— Orel Hershiser (@OrelHershiser) October 30, 2017

Yes, there’s definitely still a chance. This isn’t a situation that the Atlanta Falcons had to deal with after crumbling in the Super Bowl to the New England Patriots. They didn’t get another chance to face the Patriots in a rematch for months, but the Dodgers feel fortunate to bring this series back to Los Angeles.

Game 5 was a classic, and was unlike anything that baseball fans have ever witnessed during the Fall Classic before. It resembled a boxing match, that featured two heavyweights fighting till the very last round. The Astros eventually won that battle, but this thing is far from over.

That might be where the Dodgers have the advantage. This team hasn’t been to a World Series since 1988, but they watched the Chicago Cubs win a 2016 World Series after celebrating a Pennant victory in front of the Boys in Blue during the 2016 NLCS in Chicago. On Sunday, the Astros celebrated as if the World Series was over after winning Game 5, but the Dodgers walked back to their visiting clubhouse with their heads held high, knowing that they’re going to have a chance to end this in Los Angeles, regardless of the result.

The baseballs have really been scrutinized lately, but the weather might also permit the ball from carrying well, unlike in Houston. It’ll be humid and in the mid 60’s when Rich Hill throws his first pitch tonight. Dodger Stadium’s dimensions are also very different from Minute Maid Park, so expect Hill to attack the Astros with a heavy dosage of curveballs on the outside corners.

WS Temps in LA: Game 1, 103 degrees; Game 2, 93. Forecast for Game 6, 63. Justin Turner said expect "a different ballgame" (fewer HRs).

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) October 30, 2017

If the Dodgers can just trust themselves, use their home-field advantage factors to its full potential, and remember that nasty feeling of losing tight games – then a Game 7 is in their foreseeable future.