The 2021 World Series is here. Tragically, the San Francisco Giants are not in it. Beautifully, neither are the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Instead it’s the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros, teams who both present Giants fans with one really good reason to root for them (many former Giants for Atlanta, and Dusty Baker for Houston), and one really good reason to root against them (racist chants echoing through the park for the former, and a massive cheating scandal for the latter).
Only time will tell who will get to spend a small country’s GDP on jewelry sometime in the next few months, but according to the latest SB Nation Reacts survey, MLB fans expect Atlanta to win, albeit by a narrow margin, and in six games.
But while the expectations may be close, the desires are not, with an overwhelming majority of polled fans hoping that Atlanta can pull off the series win. It seems the cheating scandal is still fresh in everyone’s mind.
In perhaps the least surprising of news, polled fans are also expected Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman, the reigning NL MVP, to win the World Series MVP. Predicting a World Series MVP is a rather thankless task, given how much variance impacts it, but you can do worse than picking the best player on the favored team.
One thing is for sure: no matter who wins, the World Series will be over soon, and with it the baseball season, and then we can get back to diving head first into the offseason.
To vote in the Reacts surveys and have your voice heard each week, sign up here.
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