The Bernstein Brief: World Series Game 5 As Historic As You Probably Thought
By Dan Bernstein --
CBSChicago.com senior columnist
(CBS) It was exactly as crazy and historic as you probably thought it was while taking in all of Game 5 of the World Series in Houston on Sunday night, a classic that saw the Astros eventually outlast the Dodgers, 13-12, in a contest that felt more like a prizefight than a baseball game.
Statistical analyst Jeff Feyerer found one way to measure just how wild it all was, using the tools at TheBaseballGauge.com. He identified moments of significance using both cWPA (championship Win Probability Added) and CLI (Championship Leverage Index) to see how much each of the home runs hit actually mattered.
And incredibly (or perhaps not so much anymore), a full four of them from that game alone registered among the top 19 hit in the last quarter-century. Tops is still Joe Carter's three-run shot that won the 1993 World Series, and for those curious, Paul Konerko's grand slam in Game 2 in 2005 came in fourth.
But Cody Bellinger's three-run homer in the fifth inning is No. 8, Yuli Gurriel's in the fourth is No. 17, Jose Altuve's three-run bomb is No. 18 and the solo homer hit by George Springer in the bottom of the seventh is No. 19.
Only three other single World Series games in this timespan featured more than one homer in the top 25 -- Game 5 in 1997 had one by Moises Alou (13th in CLI) and one from Sandy Alomar (15th), Game 6 in 2002 registered those of Scott Spezio (21st) and Darin Erstad (22nd) and Game 6 in 2011 had homers from Josh Hamilton (fifth) and David Freese (11th).
To have four among this group on one crazy night is notable, just another way of confirming that it was a game unlike any we have seen.
Dan Bernstein is a co-host of 670 The Score's "Bernstein and Goff Show" in afternoon drive. You can follow him on Twitter: @dan_bernstein and read more of his columns here.