ALCS preview: Houston Astros vs. New York Yankees
This is what a championship series is supposed to be.
The best team in the American League - the Houston Astros - against the second-best team - the New York Yankees.
With 210 combined wins between them during the regular season, the Astros (107-55) and Yankees (103-59) took different paths to the American League championship series.
Houston needed all five games to get past scrappy Tampa Bay in the division series while the Yankees swept the Minnesota Twins, again.
Let's take a closer look at the ALCS:
About the Astros
They sweated out a tough first round against the Rays and leaned heavily on ace starter Gerrit Cole in the decisive Game 5 Thursday. Houston has the top two Cy Young Award candidates in Cole and Justin Verlander, third baseman Alex Bregman should win the MVP and Yordan Alvarez is a near lock for Rookie of the Year. The Astros are in the playoffs for the third straight year and they won the World Series in 2017.
About the Yankees
They beat Minnesota in the ALDS, extending their playoff winning streak vs. the Twins to 13 dating back to 2004. During the regular season, New York finished second in the major leagues with 306 home runs. Second baseman Gleyber Torres led the way with 38. With a .327 batting average and a team-high 102 RBI, DJ LeMahieu is going to get plenty of MVP votes. Domingo German (18-4, 4.03 ERA) was the Yankees' top starter during the regular season, but he's been out since Sept. 19 due to an investigation of alleged domestic violence.
Local ties
Yankees outfielder/DH Mike Tauchman, a Fremd High School graduate, was having a breakout season before going down with a calf injury in early September...DJ LeMahieu played with the Cubs in 2011, his rookie season...Star closer Aroldis Chapman helped the Cubs win the 2016 World Series...Reliever Tommy Kahnle was with the White Sox in 2016-17...Gleyber Torres came up in the Cubs' system and was traded to the Yankees, for Chapman, in 2016.
Astros relief pitcher Hector Rondon pitched for the Cubs from 2013-17...Joe Smith was in the Cubs' bullpen in 2016...Bench coach Alex Cintron played for the White Sox in 2006-07. Third-base coach Gary Pettis was the Sox's first-base coach in 2001-02.
Prediction
Astros in six games