Go Figure: 4 data points, and 1 fun fact to watch during the White Sox, Astros ALDS
The American League division series pitting the Chicago White Sox against the Houston Astros figures to be a tightly contested clash.
One pitch, one fielding miscue, one baserunning blunder, one swing of the bat - just one sliver of difference could send one team to the AL Championship Series and the other home.
There are endless data points we could cover, but these five offer a good starting point - with the last more trivia fodder than any indicator of what to expect in the series:
1. The Astros have an exceedingly airborne offense
This year, Houston batters had 0.88 groundouts for every fly out - only the Blue Jays and Dodgers (0.86) were clearly more flyout-prone, while the Mariners and Cardinals (also rounded to 0.88) were slightly more so.
The White Sox, meanwhile, are much more of a groundball-oriented offense. While a one-to-one GO/AO (Groundout to Airout) ratio is the norm, Chicago's 1.13 is second only to the Washington Nationals' 1.29.
Helps explain why Houston had 221 homers, while the Sox smashed 190, eight shy of the MLB norm.
2. Look out for Yordan and Yasmani
Of the 261 players with 200 batted balls in play, only 20 had a "hard hit" designation (at least 95 mph) on at least half of those occurrences. In that mix are Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez (54.2%, ranked 8th) and Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal (53.2%, 10th), according to MLB's Baseball Savant.
3. Sacrificial 'stros ... sort of
Another area where the Astros live up to their up, up and away name: sacrifice flies. Houston led the Majors with 54 of them, while the Sox had 39, one above the league average.
But don't look for the Astros to bunt to move a teammate 90 feet along the basepaths: their nine sacrifices were 28th in the Majors, while Leury Garcia of the Sox had nine all by himself. As a team, Chicago sacrificed 24 times, just two under the average.
4. Houston: We make contact
With 1,222 whiffs (roughly 7 ½ per game), the Astros went down on strikes fewer than any other team but the Toronto Blue Jays (1,218). Meantime, the Sox struck out 1,389 times, which works out to once more per game - and right about the league average.
For the Astros, the outgrowth of more contact includes being tops in batting average (. 267), hits and runs per game (5.3), with a .444 slugging percentage ranked third.
Chicago is respectable in those departments, generally in the top quarter of MLB teams: .256 average, .422 slugging and 4.9 runs per game.
5. 50 Years, and one week
That's how long ago these teams' managers played in their one and only MLB game together, for the Atlanta Braves. It was Sept. 30, 1971, the last game of the regular season. Astros manager Dusty Baker was in right field, batting fifth. Sox manager Tony La Russa was at second base, batting seventh.
Both got two hits, both scored on the same play in a 6-run seventh inning, and Braves pitcher Tom House, in a rare start, won the first of his 29 career victories. House went on to become not only a pitching guru, but a pro quarterback guru, too.
As for La Russa, he played in only one more MLB game: as a ninth-inning pinch-runner for Ron Santo, he scored the Cubs' winning run on Opening Day in 1973. Meanwhile, Baker's more illustrious playing career ended in 1986 with the Oakland A's. His manager, La Russa, celebrated his 42nd birthday that day.