World championship final game
Stepping away from the character-driven stuff, Old World’s meat-and-potatoes 4X experience is pretty solid. It’ll look familiar, of course, with its settlers, workers, cities, map exploration and building of improvements on tiles surrounding your settlements. https://illuminateaustralia.com/ If you’ve played Civilization or Endless Legend in the last five years you’ll already know the drill. It’s fine, it ticks all the boxes, though there is one interesting twist in that the way you order your units around treats commands more like a resource.
With over 1,000 unique events, the strategy game weaves together a narrative experience based on intricate diplomacy systems and influence schemes. You play as one of seven different cultures, represented by a singular leader and their family, with other important families acting as stakeholders in your growing civilisation. Players must expand their territory and secure their legacy by earning the most points within 200 turns. Along the way, they can also attempt to complete Ambitions – challenging tasks that add Legitimacy and provide alternate victory paths.
We’ve seen a number of big 4X releases in recent years. Civilization VI, Endless Legend and Humankind, just to name a few of the most prominent. Old World is better than any of them. It’s focused, it’s confident, it’s smart and builds on the 4X genre in ways that are some of the most interesting I’ve seen in years.
It’s a fascinating exercise in turning a gameplay staple into a commodity. As the game begins, and your central authority is limited, you only have a handful of orders you’re able to give to your units. You might find that you’ve got a small army of workers out building roads, some scouts discovering new lands and some warriors besieging barbarian camps, all at the same time.
World series 1 game highlights
2019: Nationals 5, Astros 4This one had pretty much everything, beginning with an unexpected start from a pitcher who had been locked in for a long time. The Astros lost a Gerrit Cole start for the first time since July 12, and the first time at home since May 22. It had young and old, too — with 20-year-old Juan Soto and 35-year-old Ryan Zimmerman both homering for the Nationals in the franchise’s first World Series game. On top of that, you had a back-and-forth game, late-inning drama and dazzling defense. The Astros, down 5-2, rallied in both the seventh and eighth innings, but Daniel Hudson and Sean Doolittle were able to hold them at bay. That set the tone for a series that saw the road team go 7-0, with the Nats eventually prevailing.
The Game 1 managing edge went to Rob Thomson in a big way. He masterfully used lefty Jose Alvarado in the fifth and sixth innings to get through the Yordan Alvarez/Alex Bregman/Kyle Tucker trio and then the same move later on with lefty starter Ranger Suarez. Baker left Verlander in too long and arguably chose the wrong reliever in the 10th. This game isn’t on Baker, though. Give credit to the Phillies for doing everything right and coming up with clutch hits and clutch plays at the right time. And there certainly will be a new narrative in development: Verlander, the future Hall of Famer, is now winless in eight career World Series starts (0-6 with a 6.07 ERA). Unless the Phillies sweep, he’ll get another chance in Game 5.
But there was Verlander back out there and Marsh doubled, Schwarber walked and J.T. Realmuto tied the game with a two-run double. These Phillies don’t quit, that’s for sure. In our predictions file heading into the series, I warned that Baker was likely to leave a starter in too long at some point — and we just saw it happen. A lot of baseball to go here, but a 5-0 blowout has surprisingly turned into a good game. — Schoenfield
2019: Nationals 5, Astros 4This one had pretty much everything, beginning with an unexpected start from a pitcher who had been locked in for a long time. The Astros lost a Gerrit Cole start for the first time since July 12, and the first time at home since May 22. It had young and old, too — with 20-year-old Juan Soto and 35-year-old Ryan Zimmerman both homering for the Nationals in the franchise’s first World Series game. On top of that, you had a back-and-forth game, late-inning drama and dazzling defense. The Astros, down 5-2, rallied in both the seventh and eighth innings, but Daniel Hudson and Sean Doolittle were able to hold them at bay. That set the tone for a series that saw the road team go 7-0, with the Nats eventually prevailing.
The Game 1 managing edge went to Rob Thomson in a big way. He masterfully used lefty Jose Alvarado in the fifth and sixth innings to get through the Yordan Alvarez/Alex Bregman/Kyle Tucker trio and then the same move later on with lefty starter Ranger Suarez. Baker left Verlander in too long and arguably chose the wrong reliever in the 10th. This game isn’t on Baker, though. Give credit to the Phillies for doing everything right and coming up with clutch hits and clutch plays at the right time. And there certainly will be a new narrative in development: Verlander, the future Hall of Famer, is now winless in eight career World Series starts (0-6 with a 6.07 ERA). Unless the Phillies sweep, he’ll get another chance in Game 5.
Who won game 1 of the world series
That lead held when Cole calmly retired Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freeman in succession after a leadoff double from NLCS MVP Tommy Edman in the sixth. And again when the Yankees’ bullpen escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the seventh.
“Those are the kind of things, when you’re 5 years old with your two older brothers and you’re playing Wiffle ball in the backyard — those are the scenarios you kind of dream about,” Freeman told reporters after the game.
Additionally, this World Series was contested between the two eventual winners of the most valuable player (MVP) awards in their respective leagues: Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers. This was the first World Series since 2012 (when Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants faced Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers) to feature the two league MVPs from that season. Judge won the American League (AL) MVP Award in 2022, while Ohtani won two AL MVP awards unanimously with the Los Angeles Angels in 2021 and 2023. During the 2024 regular season, Judge hit 58 home runs while Ohtani hit 54 during his 50–50 season, meaning that this is the first time in Major League Baseball history that two batters who hit 50 home runs in the same regular season are playing against each other in the World Series. Because of the renewal of the rivalry between the two storied franchises, and the World Series debuts of both Ohtani and Judge, many regarded the matchup as a “dream” World Series in the lead-up to the event.
In the top of the eighth, the Yankees sent in reliever Tommy Kahnle, who had not allowed an earned run in eight postseason games. Hernandez once again led off with a single, Edman followed with a broken-bat infield single, and Will Smith followed with a four-pitch walk. With the bases loaded, Kahnle was relieved by Luke Weaver, pitching in his third straight game. Weaver allowed a Gavin Lux sacrifice fly that scored Hernández, tying the game at 6–6, which moved Edman to third. Shohei Ohtani next reached on a catcher’s interference, once again loading the bases. On the first pitch of his at-bat, Betts hit a sacrifice fly to score Edman, giving the Dodgers a 7–6 lead.
