PHILADELPHIA — Entering this World Series, if there was one especially obvious mismatch, it was the pitching depth.
The Astros had one of the best staffs in baseball, with rotation and bullpen alike enviably stacked, resulting in a 134 team ERA+. The Phillies, meanwhile, had … not that. Their best pitchers could certainly go toe to toe with the Astros’. But the depth simply was not comparable. That was put on full display in Game 1: The Phillies turned to one of their best relievers, José Alvarado, in the fifth inning, which meant that by the seventh, they needed to start pulling from their rotation.