Houston Astros win 2022 World Series title

Congratulations to the Astros on vanquishing the Phillies in six games to clinch the 2022 World Series on Saturday night. They were an extraordinarily well-rounded team.

The only Astros player whose career passed through Miami, Ryne Stanek had his best individual season in 2022 (1.15 ERA, 3.02 FIP in 54.2 IP). He was lightly used in the playoffs, but worked three scoreless, hitless innings when called upon.

Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Presumably, Oz Ocampo will receive a World Series ring for contributing to the construction of Houston’s roster. Before being hired as Marlins assistant general manager in October, he was an Astros international crosschecker. Ocampo was instrumental in scouting and signing several of their best homegrown arms when they were unheralded amateurs, including Framber Valdez, who started the Game 6 clincher.

Despite a superb résumé, Houston bench coach Joe Espada was once again passed over by MLB teams with managerial vacancies. Espada was reportedly a finalist in the Marlins’ recently completed search. Being a part of this championship run from start to finish hopefully dulls the pain of that disappointment.

As usual, the Marlins and Astros will meet frequently during the Grapefruit League. They’re scheduled to face each other six times in 2023 spring training games, beginning on February 27. Also, next season marks the debut of the “everybody plays everybody” MLB regular season schedule format. The Astros will come to LoanDepot Park from August 14-16 for a three-game series, seeking payback against the only National League team to win a series at Minute Maid Park this year (h/t Craig Mish of SportsGrid).

Don’t expect the Marlins to follow last offseason’s playbook and add another World Series MVP to their club—hard to envision any scenario in which Jeremy Peña gets dealt. However, the Astros do have several pending free agents who could appeal to Miami, most notably Yuli Gurriel, Rafael Montero, Christian Vázquez and Michael Brantley.

Although the Phillies fell a couple victories short of claiming the WS title for themselves, the NL East division projects to be extremely challenging for the Fish moving forward. The Phils won nearly 60% of their games after Rob Thomson took the reins as their interim manager, while the Braves and Mets won at even higher proficiencies prior to being upset in October.