2022 World Series bold predictions: Record number of home runs, a Framber Valdez

The 2022 World Series is here. The Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies will meet in this year’s Fall Classic after knocking off the Yankees and Padres in the Championship Series, respectively. The World Series gets going Friday night at Minute Maid Park in Houston. This is the Astros’ fourth pennant in the last six years and the Phillies’ first pennant since 2009.

The pair have a bit of a postseason history. Philadelphia beat the Astros in the NLCS en route to their World Series championship in 1980, back when the Astros were in the National League and the NLCS was a best-of-five. That series went the distance and then some — Garry Maddox providing the series-winning hit with his tenth inning double in Game 5.

The series also featured several all-time greats, most notably Pete Rose and Hall of Famers Steve Carlton, Joe Morgan, Nolan Ryan, and Mike Schmidt. New Rangers manager Bruce Bochy played in that series as well.

Of course, what happened in 1980 has no bearing on what happens in 2022, and that’s also true for the final series of this regular season, when the Astros and Phillies wrapped up against each other in Houston. The Astros won two of three, though the Phillies had just clinched a postseason berth and ran hangover lineups out there in Games 161 and 162.

Anyway, with the World Series set to begin Friday night, let’s lay out some bold predictions. Come with me, won’t you?  

There will be a record number of homers hit

Unless you haven’t paid attention the last few postseasons, you know home runs reign supreme in October. It is extremely hard to string together hits and walks given the caliber of pitching these days, so your best bet is to put points on the board with one swing. The last few years tell you all you need to know:

Those differences between the regular…