The Houston Astros have more talent, won a lot more games, has home-field advantage, more experience ... go down the list, the Astros are favored to and should win their second world title in three years. 

But the Nationals are the more compelling story to capture America's attention in this World Series ... and it's not even close.

The NFL's product was suffering before Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes hobbled off the field at Denver with what's reportedly a dislocated kneecap. With penalty flags being thrown at an absurd rate and half the games unwatchable each week, this is no time to be losing the reigning league MVP.

Why is this Nationals World Series run so sweet? It's like that old Billy Beane quote from Moneyball: "It's hard not to be romantic about baseball."

The Rams made a blockbuster trade on Tuesday, shipping two first-round picks and a fourth for All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey. Now. they have yet another star player who will demand top-of-the-market money at his position, and what could end up being a five-year span (from 2017 to 2022) with no players drafted in the first round.

The two phantom illegal hands to the face penalties called on Detroit's Trey Flowers that helped Green Bay ice away Monday night's 23-22 win brought the grand total for Week 6 to 188 flags for 1,487 — in 14 games.

The NFL set a record after assessing 3,447 penalties in the 2018 season. Under the current pace, that number will balloon closer to 4,000 in 2019.

The biggest loser in week 6 of the college football season was easily Georgia, which failed to show up at home against 24-point underdog South Carolina and is now suddenly well outside the college football playoff conversation.

The biggest winner? Oklahoma, which got the signature win it needed to stay on course for an undefeated season in the Big 12. If the Sooners do just that, they'll make it awfully hard for one-loss teams like Georgia or Florida to break into the final top-four.

One story that just can't be ignored in these MLB playoffs is the Tampa Bay Rays, the No. 30 team in total team payroll at around $64M. After beating Justin Verlander and the World-Series-favorite Astros on Tuesday night, they sit nine innings away from a stunning run to the ALCS.

Browns QB Baker Mayfield, after the worst performance of his professional career, told reporters after Monday's 31-3 loss at San Francisco that his team's not hitting the panic button. That sounds nice, but in reality, at 2-3 and with a good, rested Seahawks team coming on Sunday, Cleveland no longer has any margin for error. Can they fix their consistency issues in a matter of days?

The NFL will carry four winless teams into Week 6 - the Jets, Bengals, Dolphins and Redskins. Those feeble four are contributing to a league that's probably never been so lopsided between the haves and have-nots. But it could be much worse if not for teams like the Saints and Colts overcoming adversity like they have.

Last week's season debut for FOX delivered a 3.9 rating and average total viewership of around 12.7 million, crushing the fall season premiers for shows on competing networks. And while FOX has paired with streaming giants like Amazon Prime, the real home run was the matchup: Eagles-Packers.