New York Yankees vs Houston Astros Game 3 of the ALCS: reactions and takeaways

With a 3-0 deficit to overturn, the future looks bleek for the New York Yankees. On the other hand it’s largely a problem of their own making.

The Houston Astros are on the verge

If they win on Sunday night, the Houston Astros will be making their second consecutive trip to the World Series. This of course, follows a dominant 5-0 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night. With the win, the Astros now have 3-0 lead in the series and of course can sit comfortably knowing that the Yankees would have to win four consecutive games to stop them from claiming their fourth American League pennant in the last six years. We should mention, that only one team in baseball’s history - the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS - has overturned a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series. That’s to say, if the Yankees are able to do the same, it will be historic.

Regarding how things panned out, it was really all about right-handed pitcher Cristian Javier who spearheaded the Astros’ three-pitcher assault on Yankee Stadium. Indeed, Javier gave up just one single hit across just under six innings and Houston’s bullpen cleaned up the scraps. In truth, it’s been somewhat of a trend in this series, with New York having scored a paltry four runs in the series, while striking out 41 times. Where offense was concerned, Chas McCormick provided the spark for the Astros with a two-run homer in the second inning. As things stand, it’s going to take a monumental effort on the part of the Yankees to avoid the end of their post season on Sunday night. None the less, let’s take a look at what we learned in Game 3:

The Yankees gave Chas McCormick cake and he ate it

If it wasn’t clear already, you don’t beat the Houston Astros unless you bring your absolute A-game which is something the Yankees have yet to do in this series. A perfect example of that, came in the second inning when New York’s star pitcher, Gerrit Cole - performing very well up to that point - saw one of his pitches popped up for a harmless fly ball. Unfortunately, what Cole couldn’t have expected or anyone else for that matter, was that Harrison Bader and Aaron Judge would miscommunicate in the outfield and Christian Vázquez’s routine fly ball, would be dropped in error. Even Vázquez, who had started to make his way to the dugout, couldn’t believe it.

Ultimately, Bader was tagged with the error, but it’s really Judge who should’ve taken the blame. It was the center fielder’s ball and Judge ran directly in front of Bader. Cameras would later show Judge in dugout and you could see that he knew he messed up, indeed it was something he admitted to post game. What followed - due to the error - was the extension of the inning and then Chas McCormick stepped up to compound the issue with a two-run blast over the wall. The moral of the story here is the Astros are the last team you want to be committing errors against.

Cristian Javier is a problem for the New York Yankees

A quick detour first. You may recall that back on June 25, Javier threw seven innings worth of what turned out to be a no-hitter at Yankee Stadium. On that day, he struck out 13 and walked one. In what has been a breakout season, that was perhaps the highlight for the 25-year-old who has thrown 148 2/3 innings with 2.54 ERA and 194 strikeouts. On Saturday night, he was at it again and if you ask manager Dusty Baker, there’s likely more to come. “Just maturity and confidence, and learning what he’s capable of doing,” the Astros manager said when speaking on Javier’s sensational season. “You would hope that a young player gets better. As long as they stay healthy, as long as they have the mental capacity and strength, they should get better.”

With that out of the way, let’s get back to Game 3. On the night, Javier didn’t allow the Yankees a single hit across three innings and in fact didn’t even see a ball hit out of the infield until Giancarlo Stanton found a way through in the fourth inning, on a play that ended with a one-out double. In truth, the Yankees can’t cope with Javier. Fans will recall, that it was him who was on the mound for New York’s lowest regular season moment and he was there once again, when they were on the verge of elimination in the season. Sadly - if you’re a Yankees fan - it looks like he’ll be there one last time to close the door on New York’s post season.

The bottom of the Astros’ lineup is unreal

Let’s be honest, the Houston Astros are a inch away from the World Series for a few reasons, but one of the most significant is the bottom of their lineup. Consider for a moment that in Game 1, McCormick who bats at No. 8 got on base three times and homered. Then there was Maldonado who bats at No. 9 with the RBI double. Game 2 saw the No. 9 get on base three times as well including the 0-2 count that preceded Bregman’s homerun. This brings us to Game 3, in which McCormick - batting at No. 9 this time - launched a two-run shot into the stands to open the scoring.

Mention should also be made of the way the Astros cracked open the game in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded and no outs against Cole, the Yankees turned to Lou Trivino, who then conceded a sacrifice fly to Trey Mancini (No. 7 hitter) and a two-run single to Vázquez (No. 8 hitter) to put runs on the board. To put it in perspective, across the three games that have been played in the ALCS, Houston’s 7-8-9 hitters have a double, two homers, four walks, and just four strikeouts. Compare that to New York’s 7-8-9 hitters, who are hitting .069 with a home run, two walks, and 14 strikeouts and we assume you get the picture.

As for what comes next, Game 4 is actually under threat right now with the forecast predicting rain throughout the day on Sunday. Should the game go ahead - it will be MLB’s decision - first pitch will be at 7:07 p.m. ET. For the moment all we can do is wait and see.