World Series 2021: Five questions after Braves' Game 1 victory over Astros

By Jake Mintz
FOX Sports MLB Writer

HOUSTON — Not all postseason games are instant classics. 

Baseball fans won’t remember Tuesday’s World Series Game 1 forever. If this were the 1990s, you’d record Game 2 over the VCR tape of Game 1. So is baseball, so is life.

But the Braves' convincing 6-2 win over the Astros in Houston has ramifications for the rest of the series. Even if the baseball Tuesday was decidedly meh, the baseball happened and will impact the baseball to come. 

Let’s run through five big questions after Game 1.

1. What went wrong for Framber Valdez?

Just six days ago in Boston, Valdez delivered the outing of the entire postseason with a dominant ALCS Game 5 performance against the Red Sox. He went eight innings that night, allowing just one run on one hit, a Rafael Devers solo blast. Valdez looked like a man in total control, using his sinker/curveball combo to induce an avalanche of weak ground ball outs.

But Tuesday in Houston was a different story. On just the third pitch of the game, Valdez grooved a 2-0 sinker down the center of the plate to Jorge Soler, who ripped it into the Crawford boxes in left for a leadoff home run. Catcher Martín Maldonado wanted the ball down, but Framber missed the spot by a foot.

This quickly became a recurring issue for the Houston starter. Just three batters later, he tried to sneak a 3-0 sinker past Austin Riley with a runner on second. Again, it caught too much plate and ended up kissing outfield grass for an RBI double.

Valdez looked uncomfortable all night and never established the command of his sinker. He got behind in counts and failed to locate the sinker effectively once behind. After inducing 11 ground ball outs in his ALCS win, Framber induced just two against Atlanta. That’s a product of poor command that allowed Braves hitters to sit on the sinker in hitter's counts.

Valdez also looked shaky in his two postseason starts prior to ALCS Game 5. The Astros need him to right the ship if Houston is to have any real chance of taking home this series.

2. How does Charlie Morton’s injury change the complexion of the series?

Ground Chuck, aka Big Game Charlie, aka Game 7 Morton, aka The Steakhouse, aka one of three reliable starting pitchers in the World Series, got struck in the leg by a Yuli Gurriel comebacker in the second inning. Nothing seemed amiss at first. Morton waved off the training staff, returned to the mound and finished the inning clean.

But after striking out Jose Altuve to begin the third, Morton immediately grabbed his right leg and motioned to the dugout that he needed to come out of the game. X-rays later revealed that Morton had fractured his right fibula. Series over, season over.

There’s a real dearth of quality starting pitching in this series. With Lance McCullers Jr. on the mend from a bad forearm, Zack Greinke a diminished version of himself, Justin Verlander on the shelf because of Tommy John and Mike Soroka out with ankle issues, Morton was easily the most reliable hurler left on either of these teams.

Despite Atlanta’s win, his absence going forward puts the Braves in a tough spot. They were already short on starting pitching, with a bullpen game in Game 4 imminent. Now they’ll need to patchwork their way through Game 5 as well, a night that surely would have belonged to Morton.

Reliever Jacob Webb will probably be added to the roster as a replacement. Kyle Wright, who had not been on any of the postseason rosters so far, now seems likely to start at some point in the series or at least feature as the bulk guy after an opener. Max Fried and Ian Anderson, the two true Braves starters remaining, will be counted on to pick up the slack.

3. What’s going on with Jose Altuve?

Altuve K’ed three times Tuesday as part of an ugly, 0-for-5 performance. He’s now 3-for-24 dating to Game 1 of the ALCS. Frankly, it’s just plain odd to see such a storied postseason performer struggle so mightily.

But one thing is for sure: Altuve doesn’t plan on changing his approach. Perhaps the most aggressive hitter in the game, he absolutely adores swinging at the first pitch. But his first-pitch pop-out with two runners on in the fourth inning Tuesday sucked the life out of the stadium and soiled the best chance Houston had all night.

For Astros fans, I’m sure it’s immensely frustrating to see your talisman and leadoff hitter seemingly toss at-bats away, but it’s important to remember that Altuve’s aggressiveness is how he succeeds and is part of what makes him such a formidable hitter when he’s on. 

Eventually he will figure his stuff out. Whether it happens this week will play a big role in determining the World Series champion.

4. Which Braves trade-deadline outfielder is most likely to win MVP?

With Games 1 and 2 in the American League city, the Braves have a rare opportunity to play all four of the outfielders they traded for at the 2021 deadline. Soler DH’ed and led off Tuesday while NLCS MVP Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall and Joc Pederson manned the outfield. All were outstanding.

Rosario picked up two more hits, giving him 20 so far this postseason. Soler dingered to start off the game. Duvall added his own blast in the third inning to chase Valdez. Joc knocked a single and looked fabulous in his trademark pearls. This much-talked-about unit, brought together in the wake of Ronald Acuña Jr.’s leg blowing out, kept things rolling and showed no signs of slowing down.

I would probably rank their MVP candidacy at this point (1) Rosario (2) Duvall (3) Soler (4) Pederson.

5. Is Jake Odorizzi the GOAT?

OK, that’s a dumb question, but he was really clutch out of the bullpen in Game 1. Once Framber got blasted early, the Astros were in an undesirable situation. Down 5-0, they needed someone to sponge up a lot of innings in order to save their high-leverage relievers while keeping the score close enough that their potent offense was still within striking distance. That’s a job for a former starter turned postseason bullpen arm such as Odorizzi.

But in Game 2 of the ALCS, when Odorizzi was called upon in a similar situation after starter Luis García had to exit early due to injury, he immediately gave up a grand slam (after famously taking eons to warm up). In Tuesday's go-around, Odorizzi was much sharper, striking out five in 2 1/3 innings while allowing no runs on only one hit.

In a world in which getting five innings from your starter is cause for a pizza party, any length from a reliever is a huge plus. And even though the Astros' offense faded meekly into the night, never mounting anything resembling a comeback, Odorizzi kept things together and soaked up enough innings to put Houston in a not horrible spot for Game 2.

BONUS: Is this series over?

Shut up, Jake. There are at least three more games.

Jake Mintz is the louder half of @CespedesBBQ and a baseball analyst for FOX Sports. He’s an Orioles fan living in New York City, and thus, he leads a lonely existence most Octobers. If he’s not watching baseball, he’s almost certainly riding his bike. You can follow him on Twitter @Jake_Mintz.