Astros will have homefield advantage versus the Yankees

Astros will welcome the Yankees to MMP for an ALCS game Friday.

The moment has finally arrived, the Houston Astros know what they will be doing this weekend. They will begin a best of seven ALCS series starting Friday versus the New York Yankees at Minute Maid Park. That is right. The Astros will have homefield advantage because they finished with 101 wins, while the Yankees only won 91 games.

Close your eyes and imagine a sea of orange at Minute Maid Park. Now, picture Dallas Keuchel walking up to the mound to face the Yankees. Keuchel has been ‘pretty good’ in his career versus the Yankees, so it’s only fitting that he will open the series up on Friday night at 7:08 PM CT. While we are not sure who will start for the Yankees, it might be Masahiro Tanaka or Sonny Gray.

Then the Astros will trot Justin Verlander out to the mound for Game 2 on Saturday at 3:08 PM CT. We will look deeper into the matchups later on, but the Yankees pulled off a little bit of history to come to Houston in the first place. The Indians won the first two games of the best of five series, meaning they would likely win the series like the Astros.

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Instead, the Yankees rotation heated up behind two quality starts by Luis Severino and Tanaka, followed by C.C Sabathia’s short but solid outing. The Indians won 102 games this year behind a 22-game win streak to shoot past the Astros for the top seed in the American League. This may have doomed their season as they could have faced the Red Sox instead of the Yankees.

On Talking Stros, we predicted that the Yankees would be one of the teams that could take out the Indians. What was the undoing of the Indians? Believe it or not, the Indians starters didn’t live up to expectations. Corey Kluber failed to go three innings twice in the series. He could win the AL Cy Young Award this year.

Next: Astros: Indians or Yankees the better matchup for the ALCS?

The Yankees won’t be a cakewalk, but the Astros seem to play well versus them. We will look deeper into the matchups later, but now we know who the opponent is for the ALCS. Expect to hear a lot of comparisons between Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge, both battling for the AL MVP. Is it Friday yet?

***Stats from Baseball-Reference***