Houston Astros Playoffs: Looking into the Batter vs. Pitcher Matchup

Houston Astros Playoffs: 25-Man Wild-Card Roster

With the Houston Astros set to make their first postseason in ten years, I wanted to take a look at the batter versus pitchers matchups on both sides. Hopefully, by looking at these stats, we will be able to see which team has the upper hand in this matchup. I don’t have a clue what the actual roster will look like; I can do the best to guess who be in the starting lineup that day. Before we go into a matchup examination, I wanted to take a shot at the Wild-Card 25-man roster.

Hitters

Catchers

• Starter: Jason Castro
• Hank Conger
• Max Stassi

Infielders

• Starter: Chris Carter
• Starter: Jose Altuve
• Starter: Carlos Correa
• Starter: Luis Valbuena
• Marwin Gonzalez
• Jed Lowrie
• Jonathan Villar

Outfielders

• Starter: George Springer
• Starter: Carlos Gomez
• Starter: Colby Rasmus
• Jake Marisnick
• Preston Tucker

Designated Hitter

• Evan Gattis

Pitchers

• Starter: Dallas Keuchel
• Long-Relief: Mike Fiers or Scott Kazmir
• Luke Gregerson
• Pat Neshek
• Will Harris
• Chad Qualls
• Oliver Perez
• Tony Sipp
• Vincent Velasquez

More from Climbing Tal's Hill

• Just how much better is the Houston Astros playoff rotation than the rest?
• Houston Astros: A Lineup Change to Spark Offense
• Astros prospect Hunter Brown throws 6 shutout innings in debut
• Always faithful Astros World Series champion Josh Reddick defends the title
• Michael Conforto declines Astros’ 2-year, $30 million offer

Just remember that this only a one game playoff, so the winner of this game would go to Kansas City and would have to lock the roster at 10 am the day of the first game of the series like they will do today for the Wild-Card game tonight. You might be surprised that we only have two starting pitchers on the roster for tonight’s game, but there is no sense putting them on a roster if they can’t be used in that game. I have heard conflicting reports on if Gomez is going to be able to play, however, if he’s ready to go he will be on the roster.

On the mound for the hometown New York Yankees is Masahiro Tanaka, who has already faced the Astros this season. The Astros faced Tanaka on June 27, and they were able to hit Tanaka like he was a regular/average pitcher. While Tanaka has had some success overall against other teams, he had a 12-7 record/ 3.51 ERA/ 139 strikeouts in 154 innings, he struggled against the Astros. He pitched five innings on June 27 in his loss to the Houston Astros.

Let’s take a look at what the Astros lineup has done versus Tanaka in 2015.

The Astros have hit three home runs versus Tanaka, who allowed six runs in five innings while striking out five Astros.

Let’s take a look at what the Yankees lineup has done versus Keuchel in 2015.

More from Astros News

• Just how much better is the Houston Astros playoff rotation than the rest?
• Houston Astros: A Lineup Change to Spark Offense
• Astros prospect Hunter Brown throws 6 shutout innings in debut
• Always faithful Astros World Series champion Josh Reddick defends the title
• Michael Conforto declines Astros’ 2-year, $30 million offer

There is a reason they play baseball and not just assign the winner based on who has the better team. However, this matchup appears to favorite the Astros winning with their ace on the mound. Beltran is the only one to have some success against Keuchel. Keuchel is starting on three days rest, so if the Astros get ahead early and feel confident about in the game, they could take Keuchel out early to preserve his arm for another start in the Postseason.

I am looking forward to this game tonight, playoff baseball back in Houston.

Next: Ultimate AL Wild-Card Preview: Houston Astros @ New York Yankees