The Yankees Punched The Astros In The Mouth In Game 1 Of A Series That's Far From Over
Okay, Yankees. We see you.
For much of the year, the Astros were viewed as the best team in baseball. At the very least, pencil them in for an appearance in the ALCS for the third straight year. Here they are. But so, too, were the Yankees. On paper, the Yankees deserved to also be penciled in as an ALCS participant, but the injured list told a different story.
The Yankees had every reason to fall back on the injury excuse, but it was next man up from April on. What we have now is rematch of the 2017 ALCS, only this time the Yankees aren’t “rebuilding” or whatever they were saying back then. They’re legit and they have experience in October. Because of this, they pose a rather large threat to Houston’s attempt at winning a second World Series title in three years.
As expected, the Yankees made quick work of the fraudulent Minnesota Twins in the Division Series. Sorry, Twins fans. But you know it’s true. Despite the 100-win season and the home run record, Minnesota had a losing record against winning teams and played in a weak division. They had no business winning a game in that series, and they didn’t.
On the other side of things, the Astros surprisingly were taken to a decisive Game 5 against the feisty Tampa Bay Rays. But in Game 5, the Astros showed up. In Game 1 of the ALCS on Saturday night, they did not. Masahiro Tanaka was outstanding, painting the corners and leaving nothing out over the plate for the Astros hitters to put a barrel on. He surely could’ve gone deeper into his start, but Aaron Boone was itching to flaunt his lights out bullpen. So, he did.
New York blanked the Astros, who not only looked lifeless at the plate but also made uncharacteristic base running mistakes, grounded into a couple of double plays and went hitless in their only chance with a runner in scoring position. It was all Yankees all night, the shining star being Gleyber Torres. The kid is an absolute superstar. There’s no denying it. The 22-year-old went 3-for-5 with a homer, a double, and drove in five out of the three spot in the Yankees’ order.
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With the Astros naming their starters as Zack Greinke in Game 1, Justin Verlander in Game 2, and Gerrit Cole in Game 3, I posed the question — was Game 1 in Houston a must-win for the Bombers? I’d say about 99% of Yankee fans responded that it was. You don’t want to be down 0-1 with Verlander and Cole having yet to throw a pitch. The Yankees kicked the Astros in the teeth in Game 1, and Yankee fans have every right to be feeling good about themselves. That was a statement game. But this series doesn’t truly begin until they’ve seen Verlander and Cole.
Aside from the win, I think the biggest thing that the Yankees should be feeling good about is the fact that they saw the Astros bullpen and touched them up a little bit. Verlander and Cole can’t go nine every time, so the Astros are gonna have to lean on their bullpen arms as I’d imagine these games aren’t going to be seven-run blowouts moving forward. It’s also huge to take a game on the road at the start of the series with potentially three straight games in the Bronx Zoo looming.
In Game 2, Houston is going to need Verlander to be Verlander. Get the crowd back into it, because they literally had nothing to get excited about in Game 1. James Paxton gets the ball for New York, who faced the Stros twice this year, allowing five earned runs in four innings with a couple homers back in April, then held them to one earned run in five innings at Yankee Stadium in June. Verlander saw the Yankees twice as well, holding them to three earned runs each time out, punching out six over six frames the first time and nine over seven innings his most recent time.
If Game 1 was a must-win for the Yankees, then surely Game 2 is a must-win for the Astros. You can’t go down 0-2 with Verlander on the mound with the series heading to New York for three. Just can’t happen.