2017 American League Championship Preview

So here we sit, in the middle of October. Its time for the American League Championship Series. One team playing in this series was projected top be here, the other one not so much. Houston has been one of the top teams in the AL all year. The Yankees were a team who weren't pegged to get into the playoffs, let alone make it even this far. Yet here they sit. Should be an entertaining series. Enough of the fluff and what not, lets get right into it. Here's how this years ALCS breaks down.

Its a battle of titans, if you will, the two teams left standing in the American League. We got the AL West winning Houston Astros going up against the AL Wild Card winning New York Yankees. New York finished 2nd in the AL East with a 91-71 record. They got this far in the playoffs by beating the Minnesota Twins in the Wild card game, and followed that up by beating the Cleveland Indians 3–2 in the ALDS to advance. This is the Yankees' sixteenth appearance in the ALCS, and their second as a Wild Card. They had won in eleven of their previous fifteen appearances, the last win coming in 2009.

As for the Houston Astros, they won the AL West wit a 101-61 record.  As for the playoffs, they got here by beating the Boston Red Sox 3-1 in the American League Divisional Round. This is the Astros' fifth appearance in a League Championship Series, and their first since transferring from the National League to the American League. Their only previous LCS win came in the 2005 National League Championship Series. Houston had previously lost in 1980, 1986, and 2004. They are also the first AL West team to make it to the ALCS since the 2011 Texas Rangers.

This marks the 2nd ever playoff meeting between the two teams, with the Astros having won the previous meeting in the 2015 AL Wild Card Game. Houston won five off the seven meetings between the teams this season.

Here's the dates and times for every game in this series:
October 13 New York Yankees @ Houston Astros Minute Maid Park 8:08 PM
October 14 New York Yankees @ Houston Astros Minute Maid Park 4:08 PM
October 16 Houston Astros @ New York Yankees Yankee Stadium 8:08 PM
October 17 Houston Astros @ New York Yankees Yankee Stadium
October 18† Houston Astros @ New York Yankees Yankee Stadium
October 20† New York Yankees @ Houston Astros Minute Maid Park
October 21† New York Yankees @ Houston Astros Minute Maid Park

Pitching is going to be an intricate part of this series, and right now the Yankees pitchers are feeling it. When the Yankees were down 2-0 against the Indians, they needed great outings from their starters. CC Sabathia, Luis Severino and Masahiro Tanaka more then provided it. Oh and lets not forget about one of the best bullpens in all of baseball. According to Sports Illustrated, during the comeback against Cleveland, New York's bullpen tossed 8 2/3 shutout innings, allowed seven baserunners, and recorded 15 strikeouts. Aroldis Chapman has thrown 6.2 scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts, Tommy Kahnle has not allowed a hit in five innings and David Robertson has conceded just four hits and one run in eight frames of work. If you can get solid work out of your starters and then turn it over to that pen, with a lead, it's pretty much over the wya they have pitched this year.

The Yankees offense, when its going, can really deliver. Just look at what Didi Gregorius did in the divisional round, hitting those two clutch home runs in game five. Aaron Hicks and Greg Bird also had solid series. Brett Gardner came up with big at bats in that 5th game, really working counts and wasting off a lot of good pitchers from Indians hurlers. The biggest story though for the Yankees offense was Aaron Judge, or rather how quiet he was in this last series. Judge had one hit, a huge two-run double in Game 4, in the ALDS and set a record for most strikeouts in a postseason series with 16. Here's an eye popping stat for you, according to ESPN. Aaron Judge has 15 strikeouts in this series. Tony Gwynn had 15 strikeouts in 535 at-bats during the 1995 season. That's an insane number.

Judge and company didn't have a ton of help in the last round, but Jose Altuve did as Houston took down Boston. Altuve hit .533 for the series including a monster 3 home run game in the opener. Yuli Gurriel also hit over .500 so far in the playoffs. George Springer also hit over .400 in the series. Houston has more of a balanced offensive attack then the tribe did, which is going to be a massive difference maker in this series. Another key for the Astros in this series is going to be pitching. Starting pitching is an area of strength for Houston, though, carrying two aces in Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander along with strong secondary options such as Lance McCullers Jr. and Brad Peacock. Keuchel, who will start Game 1, iced the Yankees in his lone start against them in the regular season, going six innings with five hits and earned runs.

Houston is going to have to step its game up in this series. The Indians neutralized Judge. How did that work out for them? The Astros will have to do more to beat the Yankees. Their best chances will include them pummeling Gray and hoping the bad Tanaka shows up. That and keep up the hitting that propelled them past the Red Sox in the opening round.

Pick:
Solly: Houston Astros
Steve: Houston Astros
3rd Mic Dan: Houston Astros