86 years is a long time.

The year was 1933 with America mired deep in a depression when the Washington Senators last made it to the World Series. They lost that Series in five games to the New York Giants and the District, as it is called, has not seen a World Series since.

That will all change on Tuesday as the new Washington franchise, reborn (or better relocated) in 2005, as the Nationals, returns to the big stage to face the American League Champion Houston Astros in the 115th World Series. The Astros won the championship in 2017, giving the team, as well as the state of Texas, it’s first World Series Championship.

The Nationals, winners of 93 games in 2019, had a tortuous trip to the NL Wild card. In late May, after being swept by the New York Mets, the were 12 games under .500 and their manager, Dave Martinez, was clearly on the hot seat. During the same stretch, the Astros were 15 games over .500 and sailing along to a 107 win season. The 14-game differential in wins between the two teams is noteworthy as only two teams in World Series history with that disparity have won the championship, the 1954 New York Giants and the 1906 Chicago White Sox.

Since May 23, that differential has narrowed significantly. The Astros since that time are 81-41 including the post-season and have scored 691 runs with a plus-182 run differential. The Nats are 82-40 and have scored 700 runs with a plus-203 run differential. Similarities and disparities is a theme to this Series.

Yet, though many see the similarities as the road to an exciting series, the Astros are huge favorites to win it all. Let’s examine how these two teams match-up:

Offense

Houston led the Majors in slugging percentage (.495) in 2019. They were third in home runs with 288 and second in doubles tallying 323. They have seven players who have at least 20 homers while the Nationals have four. The Astros .848 OPS is nearly 50 points higher than Washington’s. They provide a formidable line-up with nearly every batter a major threat.

Third baseman Alex Bregman led his team with runs (122), home runs (41), and RBIs (112). He also led the Majors in OBP with a .423 mark. Astros’ left-fielder Michael Brantley led the way in BA hitting .311 on the season. It says a lot of the Houston offense, when perhaps their best player, second baseman Jose Altuve, didn’t lead his own team in power stats.

Washington ranked second in MLB in slugging with a .342 mark. They had 10 players reach double-digits in home runs and 12 in doubles. They are led by NL MVP candidate Anthony Rendon. The Nats’ third baseman led his team in BA, stroking .319 for the season. He also led in runs with 117, home runs with 34 and RBIs with a major-league leading 126. Left-fielder Juan Soto also blasted 34 homers for the Nationals in 2019.

One area where the Nationals have an advantage is on the base paths as they stole 116 bases as a team to the Astros 65. Shortstop Trea Turner led the team going 35-for-40 in SB attempts while 22-year old Victor Robles went 28-for-37. Part-time outfielder Jake Marisnick led the Astros with only 10 stolen bases during the regular season.

Pitching

Both the Astros and the Nationals present a rotation whose top three could be the ace of most major league staffs. The Astros have Cy Young candidates Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole along with fellow right-hander Zack Greinke. The Nationals counter with Max Scherzer, Steven Strasburg and southpaw Patrick Corbin. Their fourth starter, Anibal Sanchez has been surging of late

For Houston, Verlander led his team with 21 wins and a .80 WHIP. The 21 wins led the American League, one ahead of his team mate, Gerrit Cole who had 20. Verlander also led all of baseball in WAR for pitchers with a 7.8. Verlander also led in walks and hits per IP with a .803 mark, again just slightly better than Cole’s .895. Cole, for his part, led the Astros with a 2.50 ERA and in strikeouts with a MLB best of 326. Verlander was second in the the Majors in Ks.

The Nationals win leader in 2019 was Steven Strasburg with 18. He also topped the Nats in strikeouts with 251. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer showed the way with a .292 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. This will mark the second time Scherzer has been to the Fall Classic, having pitched for the Detroit Tigers in 2012. Always an intense player, his emotions seem to be reaching a fever pitch according to his team mates. He told Washington reporters, “You just know you’ve got to come out there, you’re going to be throwing up zeros. And you’ve got to try to match the intensity from your opponent.”

Scherzer (11-7, 2.92 ERA) will face Cole (20-5, 2.50 ERA) in the opening game of the World Series in Houston. Cole has been on an incredible tear of late. In his last 25 starts counting the post-season, he is 19-0 with a 1.59 ERA, 258 strikeouts and just 39 walks. In this post-season, he has a microscopic 0.40 ERA and 32 strikeouts in three starts. Scherzer is coming off a one hit, 11-strikeout performance against the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS. He carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Quite the match-up to kick-off the Fall Classic.

Game two’s match-up is excellent as well as Strasburg (18-6, 3.32 ERA) will face Verlander (21-6, 2.58 ERA) on Wednesday. Strasburg is pitching himself into the post-season record book it seems each time he takes the mound in October. This  post-season, he has a 1.64 ERA and 33 strikeouts. His 1.10 career playoff ERA  is the third lowest of all-time with pitchers with at least five starts trailing only Sandy Koufax (0.95 ) and Christy Mathewson (1.06).

Verlander has had an up and down post-season with two losses on his docket. After giving up a three-run homer to the Yankees’ Aaron Hicks in the first inning of game 5 of the ALDS, he settled down to pitch a gem. He has a 3.70 ERA in the 2019 playoffs thus far. In the 2017 World Series, Verlander pitched two quality starts against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The third game will feature Grienke versus Corbin. Greinke (18-5, 2.93 ERA)  hasn’t had the best post-season this year, but his last two starts have been effective with a 3.48 ERA in his last 10 1/2 innings. But he was the losing pitcher in game one against the Yanks and in game 3 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Corbin (14-7, 3.25 ERA) has pitched out of the bullpen as well as started for the Nats, which speaks somewhat poorly of the Nationals’ bullpen. He was on the mound for the clinching game of the NLDS as he pitched five innings of four-run four-hit ball against the Cardinals. He struck-out 12 Red Birds in the brief outing. Note: there is still a chance, that depending on how the Series goes, Anibal Sanchez pitches game 3.

The bullpens are the Achilles’ heel of both teams, but especially the Nationals. Each of the three Washington aces have had to pitch out of the bullpen at times this playoff season. Sean Doolittle, the Nats’ closer was terrible in the early part of the season, but settled down to record 29 saves with a 4.05 ERA. Daniel Hudson has also pitched better of late.

The Astros closer, Roberto Osuna, had 38 saves for the Astros this season which was the second most in baseball. He was on the mound when D.J. LeMahieu hit the game tying two-run homer in the ninth inning of game 6, now a footnote as the Astros had some theatrics of their own in the bottom of the frame. Set-up men RHPs Will Harris, Ryan Pressly (if healthy) and Joe Smith do an adequate job for the Astros who clearly have the advantage in the pen.

Defense

Any discussion here must start at third base, where the Nationals’ Rendon and the Astros’ Bregman are two of the best in the business.  Both teams also have excellent short stops in Carlos Correa and Trea Turner. The right side of the infield tilts things to the Astros as Altuve and Yuli Gurriel match-up against a collection of Nats that include Brian Dozier, franchise icon Ryan Zimmerman and Howie Kendrick. Some pundits call the Astros’ infield the best in baseball.

The outfields of the two teams are more comparable. The Nats threesome of Juan Soto, Victor Robles and Adam Eaton match-up well against the Houston trio even if the Astros’ outfield features two of their best players in LF Michael Brantley and CF George Springer. RF Josh Reddick has not distinguished himself in these playoffs as of yet.

Overall, the Astros ranked third in MLB in team defense with a .988 fielding percentage and 71 errors. The Nationals were ninth in baseball with a .985 FPCT while committing 84 errors.

Managers

A.J. Hinch, the Houston skipper, has the led the Astros to the playoffs in four of the five years he as managed there. Hinch was named manager of the Astros on September 29, 2014, replacing Bo Porter. Hinch has shown to be an effective people person as well as a master strategist. He is already fourth on the Astros all-time win list winning games at a near 60% clip. In fact, his winning percentage is the highest in franchise history. He is signed through the 2022 season.

Dave Martinez manages the Nationals and is given credit for his team’s comeback from a 19-31 start. He took over the reins of the team after Dusty Baker failed to get the Nationals to the promised land, losing the NLDS in 2016 and 2017. On October 30, 2017, the Nationals announced they had come to terms with Martinez on a three year deal with a club-option in 2021. He is known for making some unorthodox moves, once, for example,allowing Scherzer to throw 121 pitches in a game the Nats were comfortably ahead.

Intangibles

The Washington Nationals are, at the very least, do some respect. In the span of 15 days, they faced three elimination games, close games the three of them, trailed in large parts of them, and still managed to win them all before sweeping the Cards and get to the Fall Classic. Their pitching certainly merits them a chance as they have aces similar in quality as the Astros, although Cole is pitching out of his mind.

The Astros, man-for-man are the better team. They play tight, disciplined baseball and do everything including the little things right. They should be sky-high after their dramatic walk-off against the Yankees to win the ALCS. As stated above, the two teams are similar in many ways, such as the pitching, and athletic young talent. But the differences, Astros’ experience, better bullpen and others make it hard to pick against the AL champs. The “Baby Sharks” will be biting in Washington, but it will be the Astros that hoist the hardware.

Prediction: As I picked them in the beginning of the year, there’s obviously no going back now: Astros in 5.