Major League Baseball Presents 2022 World Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Major League Baseball Presents 2022 World Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 8, 2023

The eight disc '2022 World Series Champions: Houston Astros' presents all six 2022 World Series games, plus the 2022 ALCS game six and, as a nice bonus, the companion documentary-style, narrative-focused release, meaning fans don't have to make two purchases to own the full suite of Blu-ray Astros 2022 World Series content. Beyond that addition, the set is very familiar to issues from years past, including last year's Atlanta Braves release, which was the first to include the documentary disc. Otherwise, these are the games, presented as they were originally broadcast on television with a few edits for time here and there. The Blu-ray presentation is crude and straightforward but effective.

The following games are included in the set:

Disc One
Philadelphia Phillies at Houston Astros (From Minute Maid Park)
World Series Game 1

Future Hall of Fame veteran Justin Verlander toed the rubber for game one. Verlander, who posted a sterling 1.75 ERA and would win the 2022 Cy Young Award, seemed about as sure a bet as any pitcher in Major League history to take the mound and win game one for his team. After being staked to a 5-0 lead after three innings, Houston certainly had game one in the bag. But that, as they say, is why they play the game. The Fightin' Phillies fought back and battered Justin Verlander for three runs in the fourth and two in the fifth to knot the score at 5-5. The game would remain knotted at 5 until the top of the tenth when J.T. Realmuto would clobber a home run to put the Phillies on top 6-5, a lead which would stand to give the underdog National League squad a critical win in game one on Houston turf.

Disc Two
Philadelphia Phillies at Houston Astros (From Minute Maid Park)
World Series Game 2

With the Astros down 1-0, Houston turned to pitcher Framber Valdez to shut down the Philadelphia offense. The Phillies countered with ace Zack Wheeler. As in game one, Houston would jump out to an early 5-0 lead. The Phillies would claw out two runs, one in the seventh and one in the ninth, but it would not be enough; there would be no momentous comeback this time. Valdez would pick up the win and strike out 9 Phillies in 6.1 innings pitched to even the series at 1-1 headed to hostile Philadelphia.

Disc Three
Houston Astros at Philadelphia Phillies (From Citizens Bank Park)
World Series Game 3

Phillies fans were going to make a lot of noise. It would only be a question as to whether they would be cheering the home team or jeering the home team. Turns out it would be the former. With speculation that Astros starter Lance McCullers, Jr. was tipping his pitches, the Phillies smacked five home runs in the first five innings, a World Series record. Meanwhile, Phillies starter Ranger Suarez dominated the potent Houston lineup, pitching five innings of three hit, no run ball to pick up the win and earn the Phillies a critical victory in game three and take a 2-1 series lead.

Disc Four
Houston Astros at Philadelphia Phillies (From Citizens Bank Park)
World Series Game 4

While game four was not an elimination game for Houston, it was the next closest thing: going down three games to one in a best of seven series is nowhere for a team to be, and that is exactly the position the Astros faced should Cristian Javier be unable to keep the red-hot Phillies offense in check. He would do just that, though, pitching six innings of no hit ball and striking out nine while only walking two. The Astros bullpen would match the performance by pitching three more scoreless no hit innings. The offense put up plenty of runs in the fifth to cement, most importantly, the win, but also the rare World Series no-hitter.

Disc Five
Houston Astros at Philadelphia Phillies (From Citizens Bank Park)
World Series Game 5

How would the Phillies respond after being no-hit? With the series tied at two and the action shifting back to Houston after game five, it seemed a vital game for the Phillies to take. Noah Syndergaard would take the mound for the Phillies, facing off against game one goat Justin Verlander. Houston would jump out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but the Phillies would tie the game in the bottom of the inning thanks to a Kyle Schwarber leadoff home run. Houston would add single runs in the fourth and eighth to take a 3-1 lead. The Phillies would fight back to answer in the bottom of the eighth, but it would not be enough. Verlander picked up the win and gave the Astros a 3-2 series advantage heading back to Texas.

Disc Six
Philadelphia Phillies at Houston Astros (From Minute Maid Park)
World Series Game 6

The Astros were a win away from a World Series title. The Phillies had no margin for error. Zack Wheeler would again take the mound for the Phillies, facing off against Houston's Framber Valdez. The game would remain scoreless until the sixth when the Phillies would take a 1-0 lead on a Kyle Schwarber home run, but the Astros would respond with four in the bottom of the same inning. The score would hold, Valdez would pick up the win, and the Astros would win the series.

Disc Seven
Houston Astros at New York Yankees (From Yankee Stadium)
NLCS Game 6

With the Yankees on the brink of elimination, the Bronx Bombers would get off to a hot start, taking a 3-0 lead over the Astros after two innings of play. The Astros would roar back with four runs in the top of the third, including a three-run bomb off the bat of shortstop Jeremy Pena, to take a 4-3 lead. The Yankees would tie the game in the bottom of the fourth and take a 5-4 lead when Harrison Bader homered in the bottom of the sixth, but the Astros would score two decisive runs in the top of the seventh to take a 6-5 lead that would not be relinquished and send the Astros back to the World Series.

Disc Eight
2022 World Series Champions: Hoston Astros (please click here for a full review).

Major League Baseball Presents 2022 World Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shout! Factory brings each of the World Series games, and game six of the ALCS, to Blu-ray with series-standard 720p/1.78:1-framed presentations that largely reflect the basic visual style of the over-the-air broadcast as the games first aired on television (please click here for a video review of the disc eight content). The presentation is sufficient. It's never any better than that, and it's never any worse than that. It looks just about like the broadcast TV presentation, because it is, but it also includes the slew of compression issues associated with the TV broadcast, too. Backgrounds can be a little chunky. It's not unwatchable, but it's obvious. Graphics are a little flat and lack razor crispness as well. Fortunately, the bulk of the program looks decent enough, with close-ups capably revealing fine uniform and player facial textures as well as little odds and ends that are satisfyingly clear, like netting or textures around the dugout area. Colors are robust but lack precision. While Phillies red and Astros orange and green grass dominate, there's not a lot of nuance and expressive vividness on display. The image lacks character, but for anyone satisfied with the broadcast image, this should equally satisfy.

Major League Baseball Presents 2022 World Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The games are presented in the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless configuration. Like the video, the quality is more or less middling. It's adequate and conveys the material in decently proper clarity and balance. There are some issues with balance, with sounds seeming to gain volume and drop in volume from one moment to the next. The play-by-play and color commentary are stable (though do tend to hang out a bit away from center), but the crowd ambience struggles with balance and clarity both. The roar of the crowd and general stadium din lack precision, but the sense of front side space is fine. That's about all she wrote for this one. It's perfectly serviceable, but it lacks in the way of audio precision.

Major League Baseball Presents 2022 World Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Each game ends with a few minutes' worth of postgame coverage from the team at MLB Network. The set does come with a booklet that details each game included with box scores and factoids. The main menu screen for each disc offers only selections to skip ahead by inning (top and bottom alike) and choose from any of the audio broadcasts.

For full bonus content coverage from the 2022 World Series Champions: Houston Astros disc, please click here.

Major League Baseball Presents 2022 World Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This was a World Series of interesting swings, games, and moments, but it doesn't feel like a series that will be recorded in the record books as one of the all-time great Fall Classics. Nevertheless, Astros fans will obviously want to relive this series, and this eight-disc Blu-ray release does a fine job of delivering all six games, plus the clinching ALCS game, and the documentary release, so there's no reason not to buy. Recommended.