After a pair of thrilling games at Dodger Stadium, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros enter Game 3 of the World Series at Minute Maid Park tied with one win apiece.
Entering the Fall Classic, the Dodgers held the highest probability to win the series at 55 percent, per analytical model FiveThirtyEight. Since the start of the postseason, Los Angeles has been favored in all three of their series, and they’ve backed that up with an 8-2 record in the playoffs.
Despite dropping Game 2 on Wednesday in heartbreaking fashion, and the Astros now having home-field advantage, the Dodgers are still projected to win the series, with 54 percent probability, per FiveThirtyEight.
That leaves Houston with a 46 percent chance of capturing their first World Series championship in franchise history. Their win on Tuesday night was the organization’s first all-time in the Fall Classic.
The Astros are forecasted to win all but one contest (Game 3) this weekend. If necessary, Games 6 and 7 will shift back to Dodger Stadium. That would give the Dodgers an opportunity to clinch their first World Series since 1988 in front of their fans.
The series has been a fairly even matchup thus far, with the Dodgers outscoring the Astros, 9-8, in two games. After a pitchers duel in Game 1, the two clubs combined for eight home runs, the most in World Series history, the following night.
It’s just the eighth time in MLB history that two teams with 100-plus wins have squared off in a Fall Classic, and the first since 1970 when the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Cincinnati Reds in five games.
