Phillies-Astros World Series: Start time, channel, how to watch and stream

The Phillies hope to cap their unlikely playoff run with a World Series victory by eliminating the Houston Astros in a best-of-seven series that begins Friday at Minute Maid Park.

There’s a reason (other than cheating) the Astros have been to four of the last six World Series. Dusty Baker’s team won 106 games and is 7-0 in the playoffs thanks to their pitching depth and a veteran lineup with lots of playoff experience. But the Astros also haven’t won a World Series since 2017 after they were caught cheating against the New York Yankees in the ALCS using trash cans.

While most pundits are picking the Astros, one former Phillies great thinks Philadelphia — which entered the playoffs as the National League’s final wild-card — will once again overcome the odds.

» READ MORE: Phillies-Astros live coverage: Roster changes, starting lineups, and more

“I think the World Series is going to play out this way: a split in the first two games, the Phillies winning two out of three at home, and the Phillies winning in seven games, 7-6,” Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt told the New York Times.

Our own writers aren’t so sure. The Inquirer’s Phillies beat writers — Alex Coffey and Scott Lauber — split on whether the Phillies would win the World Series.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch Game 1 of the World Series between the Phillies and Astros:

Game 1 of the World Series between the Phillies and Astros is scheduled to begin at 8:03 p.m. Eastern on Fox.

Calling the game will be Joe Davis, who will be announcing his first World Series for Fox after Joe Buck left the network for ESPN. Phillies fans are notoriously tough — they once forced Buck to quit Twitter for nearly a year — but there was almost unanimous praise of Davis during the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves and the NLCS against the San Diego Padres

Davis will be joined in the booth by Hall of Famer John Smoltz, who will be calling his seventh World Series for Fox. Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci will be reporting from the field at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

While the Phillies television crew doesn’t get to call the World Series (or any playoff games, for that matter), longtime announcers Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen will be back on the radio calling the series on 94.1 WIP. Franzke’s iconic call of Bryce Harper’s home run in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series — where he coined the phrase “Bedlam at the Bank” — has quickly become a fan favorite.

Bill Kulik and Oscar Budejen will broadcast Phillies-Braves in Spanish on La Unika 1680 AM. The game will also air on TV in Spanish on Fox Deportes, with Adrian Garcia Marquez and Edgar Gonzalez on the call.

Phillies-Braves will stream on the Fox Sports app, though it will only be available to those with a cable subscription.

The game will also stream on any so-called skinny bundle that carries Fox, including fuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and DirecTV Stream. Most offer a free trial.

If you’re looking to stream the game for free and you live in or around Philadelphia, your best option is using a digital antenna, since all the games will air on broadcast television.

Thanks in part to the PitchCom system, which allows pitchers and catchers to communicate electronically, the average length of an MLB game this season was 3 hours and 4 minutes, the shortest since 2018 and six minutes shorter than in 2021. But World Series games always take longer.

During last year’s World Series between the Astros and Atlanta Braves, the average length of a game was 3 hours, 38 minutes. The longest was Game 1, which took over four hours to complete.

Over the past 10 seasons, the average length of a World Series game was 3 hours 39 minutes. By that measure, Friday’s game between the Phillies and Astros won’t end until around 11:42 p.m. Eastern.

Aaron Nola (2-1, 3.12 ERA), who took a perfect game into the seventh inning against the Astros a little less than a month ago to pitch the Phillies to the playoffs, will take the mound Friday as the team’s Game 1 starter.

The Astros are expected to counter with veteran Justin Verlander (1-0, 6.30 ERA). The 39-year-old is in the running for his third Cy Young Award after going 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA this season. But Verlander hasn’t excelled in baseball’s hottest spotlight, posting a 5.68 ERA in seven career World Series starts (four with Houston, three with the Detroit Tigers).

On Friday, Phillies Pregame Live will air at 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Philadelphia+, featuring Michael Barkann, Ricky Bottalico, Ben Davis, and former Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. They’ll all return for Phillies Postgame Live on NBC Sports Philadelphia following the game.

Fox has its own pregame coverage that will air at 7 p.m., featuring former Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, and Hall of Famer Frank Thomas. Kevin Burkhardt, who is scheduled to call 49ers-Rams Sunday afternoon, will host Fox’s studio coverage throughout the World Series.

WIP will also offer pre- and postgame coverage, hosted by Gregg Murphy.

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