HOUSTON — The 2022 World Series between the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies is a rematch, of sorts, of one of Major League Baseball's most exciting playoff matchups ever. The teams faced each other in the 1980 National League Championship Series which ended in heartbreak for Houston.
The NLCS featured legends like Nolan Ryan, Joe Niekro and J.R. Richards on the Astros and Pete Rose, Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt on the Phillies.
Four of the five games went into extra innings, including the fifth and final game. Veteran Nolan Ryan was on the mound for the Astros with rookie Marty Bystrom pitching for the Phillies.
Fans in the Astrodome were on the edge of their seats with excitement with the Astros up 5-2 in the eighth inning. But their dreams of the team's first World Series were crushed when the Phillies tied the game at 7-7 in the ninth and went on to win it 8-7 in the 10th.
"I've never been through such excitement in all my life," Jose Cruz said after the game, according to astrosdaily.com.
"Everybody thought we were a team of destiny. They were wrong. The Phillies were a team of destiny in this series," Terry Puhl said.
The Phillies went on to win the World Series against the Kansas City Royals. They won another championship in 2008.
It would be 25 years before the Astros finally made it to the World Series in 2005, only to be swept by the Chicago White Sox.
Twelve years later, in 2017, they returned to beat the Dodgers for their first and only World Series win.