Oct. 08--Projected lineups
P -- HOUSTON; AVG.; HR; RBI
2B -- Jose Altuve; .313; 15; 66
RF -- George Springer; .276; 16; 41
SS -- Carlos Correa; .279; 22; 68
LF -- Colby Rasmus; .238; 25; 61
DH -- Evan Gattis; .246; 27; 88
CF -- Carlos Gomez; .255; 12; 56
3B -- Luis Valbuena; .224; 25; 56
1B -- Chris Carter; .199; 24; 64
C -- Jason Castro; .211; 11; 31
P -- KANSAS CITY; AVG.; HR; RBI
SS -- Alcides Escobar; .257; 3; 47
2B -- Ben Zobrist; .276; 13; 56
CF -- Lorenzo Cain; .307; 16; 72
1B -- Eric Hosmer; .297; 18; 93
DH -- Kendrys Morales; .290; 22; 106
3B -- Mike Moustakas; .284; 22; 82
C -- Salvador Perez; .260; 21; 70
LF -- Alex Gordon; .271; 13; 48
RF -- Alex Rios; .255; 4; 32
Keys to the series
Last year's World Series surprise, the Kansas City Royals, are better this season, thanks in part to the addition of Kendrys Morales, who hit 22 home runs with 106 runs batted in. They also added Johnny Cueto, who has been less than an ace with the Royals: he has a 4-7 record with a 4.76 earned-run average. The Houston Astros have an ace in Dallas Keuchel, but he'll likely pitch only once during the series after pitching in the wild-card game Tuesday. Because of players like Carlos Correa, who just turned 21 and is compiling an impressive list of "youngest ever to ..." titles, Sports Illustrated picked the Astros as champions ... albeit in 2017.
The pick: Astros in five.
