2017 World Series Champions: Houston Astros Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

2017 World Series Champions: Houston Astros Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 14, 2017

A few years ago, Sports Illustrated printed a cover predicting that the Houston Astros would win the World Series in 2017, accompanied by a photo of outfielder George Springer. There's usually some sort of jinx associated with appearing on covers of magazines or video games, where the player in question gets hurt or fails to live up to expectations or some such thing. Prognostications in the sports business usually aren't worth the paper they're printed on or the digital space they consume, but this one was different. Turns out that the 2017 Astros did win the World Series, and who else but George Springer was named MVP. Insert something about a blind squirrel here. In all seriousness, picking the Astros a few years ago was about as safe a bet as there was in baseball; it was easy to see the club was headed up, even amidst a few putrid seasons. The Astros, the darlings of the sabermetrics world (and favorite of MLB Network's Brian Kenny, who loves to get down in the mud with the old school Chris Russo), have amassed as enviable a young core as is possible, adding veteran cog pieces like Charlie Morton and Brian McCann to a dearth of home-grown talent like Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, and the aforementioned George Springer. Toss in an ace pitcher like Dallas Keuchel and an ownership group and GM that weren't afraid to make a big splash at crunch time to land Justin Verlander, and the rest, as they say, is history.

MVP.

The Astros' path to the World Series was certainly aided by the New York Yankees, a club that eliminated the Cleveland Indians, they of 102 regular season wins and a ridiculously impressive 22-game winning streak late in the season. Cleveland's unexpectedly early ousting and the Astros dismissal of the AL East-winning Red Sox set up a showdown of two young teams on the uprise, one in the Astros that was right where they expected to be another in the Yankees that was probably playing a year or so ahead of schedule. The upstart Yankees certainly gave the Astros a challenge, taking the club to seven games, but Houston's Charlie Morton, once a midlevel-at-best pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Lance McCullers, a mid-rotation starter who in this game pitched in relief, combined to three-hit the Yankees en route to punching their team's ticket to the Fall Classic.

The Dodgers, like the Indians, enjoyed a very fruitful regular season, putting together a 104-win campaign, bolstered by a 20-3 record in July and deflated by losing 16 of 17 from August 26-September 11, which included an 11-game losing streak. Still, the team ran away with the NL West, easily besting a pair of Wild Card teams in the Diamondbacks and Rockies and sweeping division rival Arizona in the NLDS. The Dodgers squared off against a clearly fatigued Cubs team in the NLCS and put the defending champs away in five games, including an 11-1 beatdown in the decisive game five. Los Angeles had to like its chances in the World Series, with an ace in Clayton Kershaw, a rookie of the year in Cody Bellinger, a standout in Justin Turner, and a supporting cast including All-Star caliber players like Corey Seager, Yu Darvish, and Yasiel Puig wearing Dodger blue and primed to make this the best year in L.A. since a one-legged Kirk Gibson poked one over the right-field wall three decades ago.

The series would be a classic, including two all-time great games and one, game five, which will likely be remembered as possibly the greatest non-clinching game in World Series history and certainly one of thew top handful of all time. For more on the individual games, check out the eight disc release that contains all seven games in their entirety (in addition to ALCS game seven). This film, following a quick introduction, explores each World Series game in deep and dramatic detail. The game is transformed into a story of narrative depth and excitement. Slow-motion photography, multi-angle replays, behind-the-scenes access, and a deep analysis of key moments in a large cinematic scope makes this a wonderful companion to the games and a look that simply watching a stale TV broadcast cannot offer. It's very polished and feels more like an NFL Films release than it does an MLB release. For baseball fans, not simply Astros fans, it's a real treat.

2017 World Series Champions: Houston Astros Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

2017 World Series Champions: Houston Astros features a 1080i transfer that's consistently impressive. Image clarity is excellent. It's sharp, focused, lively, with wonderful detailing -- uniforms and caps, patches, ballpark structural elements, grass -- to be found throughout the film. There are some examples of macroblocking to seen -- most evident across the dull gray backgrounds in front of which interviewees sit -- but such intrusions are kept to a visible minimum during game action or anywhere where backgrounds are more complex. Colors are impressively rich and detailed, with plenty of life and punch to Astros orange and Dodger blue. The green grass at both ballparks looks magnificent. Both color and detail are much more stable than the eight-disc games-only box. This is much more filmic and satisfying.

2017 World Series Champions: Houston Astros Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

2017 World Series Champions: Houston Astros features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. There's plenty of supportive punch to the score. A quality low end depth gives plenty of body to the score, which also extends well off to the sides with easy-come clarity. Some surround wrap is evident, too, and the music's precision and depth make it a critical and enjoyable addition. Narration, play-by-play, and interviews are delivered clearly and with plenty of clarity and lifelike realism, well prioritized with firm and focused front-center positioning. Background baseball din at batting practice is enjoyably rich, crowd cheers are full and detailed, and additional ballpark ambience is well defined for the duration. This is an excellent sonic presentation.

2017 World Series Champions: Houston Astros Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

2017 World Series Champions: Houston Astros contains a handful of extras. A DVD copy of the film and a digital copy voucher are included with purchase.

• Houston Strong (1080p, 4:23): A look at the storm's devastation, how it impacted the team, and how the Astros play left a positive impact on the devastated community.
• Regular Season Highlights (1080i, 4:54): First homer of the season, first win of the season, a career milestone homer for Carlos Beltran, Justin Verlander's debut, Jose Altuve's 200th hit of the season, and the team's 100th win of the season.
• How They Got There (1080i, 2:48): A montage featuring the team's stars in the spotlight.
• Clinching Moments (1080i, 13:19): A highlight reel featuring the moments the team clinched the division, followed by highlights from the team's series victories over the Red Sox in the ALDS and the Yankees in the ALCS.
• World Series Parade (1080i, 2:26): Not the entire parade but rather a rapid highlight reel from it.

2017 World Series Champions: Houston Astros Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

2017 World Series Champions: Houston Astros is a wonderful film that tells the World Series story in a way that generic TV cannot. It's big, impressively edited, fantastically photographed, strongly narrated, and told through player interviews and radio and television call snippets. It's riveting, exciting stuff, even with the outcome not in any question. Astros fans are obviously going to love it, but baseball fans will enjoy, too. Supplements are a bit thin, but video and audio are very good. Highly recommended.