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MLB

New York Yankees vs Houston Astros Game 1 of the ALCS: pitchers, lineups, stats, etc.

While the NLCS may be a series of firsts, over in the ALCS it is a clash of two titans, with the Yankees and Astros facing off for the third time in six years

Jeffrey May
Jeffrey MayJeff_DiarioAS
While the NLCS may be a series of firsts, over in the ALCS it is a clash of two titans, with the Yankees and Astros facing off for the third time in six years
ERIK S. LESSEREFE

2022 has been a wild ride in major league baseball. After what can only be described as a bloodletting over in the National League, where the top seeded team and the defending champions were both knocked off by relatively middling teams, the American League is presenting us with a traditional rivalry.

The new format introduced by MLB for the Wild Card series has been controversial in some parts, mainly because it resulted in the favorites being sent packing by teams with inferior records. Dodger fans have been leading the calls for something, anything, to be done to recognize their regular season record when considering the World Series championship. No matter that they were beaten fair and square in the playoffs, nor that this is something of a regular occurrence for the analytics-obsessed Dodgers. So predictable was their coming so close, yet so far, that this writer predicted their demise way back in April.

Another prediction made in these pages, this time around the All-Star break, was that the Astros would remain invisible, with media focus squarely on the other teams, and then quietly win the World Series. So far, nothing has swayed my opinion that this will be the case.

Houston have eliminated New York from the playoffs three times in the last seven years, winning the 2015 Wild Card Game at Yankee Stadium, before beating the Yankees in both the 2017 and 2019 ALCS.

This season, the teams have met seven times with the Astros going 5-2 against the Yankees. If Houston win the pennant, it will be their fourth trip in the last five years to the Fall Classic, while the Yankees are looking to return for the first time in 13 years.

How and where to watch Game 1

  • When: Wednesday, October 19th
  • First pitch: 7:37 p.m. ET
  • Where: Minute Maid Park (Houston, Tx.)
  • TV: TBS
  • Stream: Sling, DirecTV Stream, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV

Starting pitchers

Yankees

Jameson Taillon

  • Throws: Right
  • IP: 177.1
  • ERA: 3.91
  • WHIP: 1.13

Astros

Justin Verlander

  • Throws: Right
  • IP: 175.0
  • ERA: 1.75
  • WHIP: 0.83

Taillon was used in Game 2 of the ALDS in relief, where he was hit off the mound, surrendering 3 hits and 2 runs without taking an out. But through the regular season, he has been a steady hand for the Yankees and pitched well against the Astros in the regular season.

Justin Verlander is something of a similar story in the post season, with his only appearance in Game 1 of the ALDS, where he was dinged all over the place by Seattle, giving up 6 runs on 10 hits in 4.1 innings pitched. That is nowhere near his regular season story, where he was dominant almost to the point of being unhittable.

Lineups

Yankees

  1. Gleyber Torres, 2B
  2. Aaron Judge, RF
  3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
  4. Giancarlo Stanton, LF
  5. Matt Carpenter, DH
  6. Josh Donaldson, 3B
  7. Oswaldo Cabrera, SS
  8. Harrison Bader, CF
  9. Jose Trevino, C

Astros

  1. Jose Altuve, 2B
  2. Jeremy Peña, SS
  3. Yordan Alvarez, LF
  4. Alex Bregman, 3B
  5. Kyle Tucker, RF
  6. Yuli Gurriel, 1B
  7. Trey Mancini, DH
  8. Chas McCormick, CF
  9. Martín Maldonado, C

With Aaron Hicks out, the Yankees will likely slide Stanton over to left field, and they will bump Aaron Judge down from his leadoff spot in favor of Gleyber Torres. The Astros on the other hand are pretty set in stone. They have gone with this same lineup in the ALDS and it is a winner for them. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.