Babe Ruth’s team now faces a Ruthian force.

This season, for the fourth straight year, Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard hit at least 45 homers and drove in at least 135 runs.

He’s only the third player in baseball history to have a streak like that, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Beginning in 1998, the Cubs’ Sammy Sosa had four straight seasons of 45 homers and 135 RBIs. The Yankees’ Ruth had six straight in 1926-31.

Sosa and Ruth had played several big-league seasons when each began his streak of 45/135 seasons. Howard, 29, has assembled his streak in his first four full seasons in the majors.

Nothing, it seems, can stop Howard, including the dual plague that stymies many sluggers in October: the burden of expectations and the skill of top pitchers.

Howard strikes out a ton. But instead of fearing that his latest slew of strikeouts mean he’s plunging into a ravine, he trusts the law of averages. Next time, it’s my turn.

It won’t be a shock if the Yankees’ CC Sabathia dominates Howard in their lefty matchup in Game 1 of the World Series. But wait until Howard bats against the Yankees’ right-handers.

Howard might knock in a run against Sabathia. By driving in a run in the first eight games of this year’s playoffs, he tied the record for most straight postseason games with an RBI. The record was set by someone like him–a powerful, gentlemanly, confident left-handed hitting first baseman: Ruth’s teammate, Lou Gehrig.

One night last week, after Howard tied Gehrig’s record, so did his cleanup counterpart on the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez.

What began as Rodriguez’s worst season is ending in glory with his first trip to the World Series. After his steroid admission and season-delaying hip surgery, Rodriguez appears to have shed expectations and is just playing.

Until this year, Rodriguez had these postseason totals with the Yankees: 24 games, four homers, nine RBIs. In his nine games in this year’s postseason, Rodriguez has five homers and 12 RBIs.

But Rodriguez has two fewer RBIs in this postseason than Howard, who is trying to help the Phillies become the first NL team to win the World Series in consecutive years since the 1975-76 Reds, the Big Red Machine.

With the Phillies, Howard is his own Big Red Machine.

Other facts to keep in mind about this World Series:

l The Yankees, who have the home-field advantage, are 5-0 at home in this postseason. Twice in those five games, they were three outs from losing when Rodriguez hit a tying homer off the opponent’s closer.

l Pedro Martinez, a free agent until the Phillies signed him at the All-Star break, looked like his old Cy Young self in his one start this postseason: seven shutout innings against the Dodgers. He’ll be making his sixth postseason start against the Yankees. In those previous five starts, all with Boston, Martinez is 1-2 against the Yankees and is 2-for-5 in quality starts.

l The Yankees and Phillies are the only two teams in this postseason who haven’t blown a final-inning save opportunity. The Yankees’ Mariano Rivera, the best ninth-inning closer ever, has a lifetime postseason ERA of 0.77. Phillies closer Brad Lidge, who led the majors in the regular season with 11 blown saves, has allowed no runs and one hit in his four innings in this postseason.