The 2017 World Series is unusual in that it is a matchup of the two best teams from the regular season, in the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, and a matchup of 100-game winning teams for the first time since 1970.
But unlike the 2016 season, during which the Chicago Cubs were clearly head and shoulders above everybody else, the Dodgers and Astros have not only been the best teams, they have also been remarkably similar.
During the regular season, the Astros outscored their opponents by 196 runs, while the Dodgers had a run differential of +190. But even beyond that, how they got to those numbers was similar as both teams seemed to perform at their best and swoon at similar points during the season.